We allow proxies now... use whatever cards you like. And yes, you should be running power and key/vault.

Sharpies work well. At the last tournament I went to I had to make like 80 proxies, so I printed them out, cut out the images, and slipped them into the sleeves on top of the cards. They were easier to read, but Franson raised a minor (for him) stink about it. If you went to a big T1 tournament with proxies like that they wouldn't let you use them because the cards are slightly thicker.

I would personally recommend taking out Absorb and replace it with either A.) 3+ more Stoneforge Mystic, B.) 4+ Steelshaper's Gift, or C.) Both A and B. If anything, adding these cards make the Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo much easier to find.

On top of that, why only 1 Reshape? It is unrestricted as far as I am aware. This thing is practically a tutor for any of your win conditions. On this note (and I know I was just talking about how bad the card is on a different thread), what about Wargate? Tutor into play 4 more win conditions seems great.

I think the idea of holding the ground is great, but you should be more focused on how quickly and efficiently you can get your combo pieces out. Certain cards just seem straight out of place to me in your deck, such as Rhox War Monk, Etched Oracle, and the single Unearth being of this category.

Just thoughts man. Hope these helped.

proxies don't work with ante. Proxies are for tournaments, Ante is for fun. Don't proxy when playing for ante.

How do you feel abot switching out Counterspell for either Misdirection or Remand? Misdirection is great as a psuedo-Force 5-8 while Remand is an awesome tempo destroyer that allows you a free cantrip.

Makes plenty of sense. However, think of Remand in this light:

A good Magic player is always (well, most of the time) going to bait you with spells that have an effect that is something to be aware of but not overly concerned for. Then, when they realize you are tapped out or have no cards in hand, they cast that Balance, Contract, or Yawg Win and break your face open like Edward Norton in American History X. Remand, although not technically a "hard counter", is a ridiculous tempo stopper. What it does it lull your opponent into a false sense of security. "Oh, he didn't counter that Vindicate to his massively threatening creature? Hmm, my guess is he won't mind this Contract than."
"But alas, I have balls that need to be licked," you say as you notice he tapped his only remaining black source. SUre, that Contract is going to be back again next turn, but how in the hell does he know you didn't just draw Arcane Denial, Force of Will, or my super secret tech: Envelop?

Although this may be a rather small ideal of how it could work, think of it in this light:

Turn one, you drop some land, throw down a Top, and ship the turn.
Turn one opponent, they throw a land down and wish they had big balls also. They ship turn.
Turn two, you drop land numero dos, see the Remand in your hand, and ship turn.
Turn two opponent, they say "Freeze bitch!" and throw down their Chaos Orb, you tell them to shut it and show them Remand, and they whimper... until next turn at least which is when you will have an answer for it anyway.

In any vein, you can look at Remand in one of two ways depending upon game state: Deterrent or Time Walk. Go ahead, make fun of me for calling it a Time Walk but it certainly feels like that inthe early turns, especially if you counter a mana-screwed opponent's Felwar Stone. PRICELESS. Oh you cast this big spell, well did you want to cast it again? Yeah, that's what I thought.

END RANT ON REMAND.

Misdirection gets quite a bit of hate from different sects of players but I always like to think of it as either one of these two things: A.) A Counterspell or B.)My opponent's best target spells used against him. Yeah, sure, you may think it is a 2 for 1 with you on the losing end, but really you are using their spell (1 card) against one of their cards or permanents (card number 2). I consider that far greater since they went through all the hassle of paying mana for it while you just discarded some useless jank you were holding in your hand. Seems good.

Alright... oh, one more thing. Lose the Voidslime. That card is garbage. If you are trying to use it for a utility card, I'd give you more tech points for playing Seedtime to be honest. But if you are using it strictly as an off color Stifle, use Bind and rip a card.

excuse me, zombor, but I have balls that need to be licked.

This isn't 1998. We have better cards now than Arcane Denial.