Two biggest changes were noticing that what I was missing was early board control, so I added like. A bunch of cheap removal cards. Toxin analysis, grim bauble, eaten alive

I decided Tonberries were too slow if I don't have a way to force the opponent's creatures to fight it when I attack. It's a steady pecking away of damage over the course of the game but the impact just wasn't there, so I ditched them

Grim Bauble is nice

I had accidentally wound up putting some half-assed blue artifact synergy into the deck that just wasn't doing anything so I ditched those too

And I put in some Malboros and Ice Flans for landcycling purposes, which is WAY stronger than I initially thought, especially in this deck

Swampcycling a Malboro and then resurrecting it as a 6/6 and still getting the enter effect? Oh man that's nice.

I've had more success since the adjustments for sure, although wide boards still feel really hard to deal with

But in the match I just finished I actually managed to transform Emet-Selch for the first time and

cycling into reanimation is really fun there's a Modern format deck around the concept

it somehow had not occurred to me that I could play lands from the graveyard

My eyebrows went up through the ROOF

it's a really powerful effect

so, like, if you're playing an Emet deck and you're surveiling and lands are what's coming up next

unless you need those lands right the fuck now

mill that shit every time

the most popular cheap removal in black rn is all rotating very soon or else I'd rec other spells

Which one?

Oh, multiple, haha

Cut Down and Go For the Throat

yeah those look pretty good

But okay a bit of a further thought on the tonberries

I also have an Il Mheg pixie in the deck, which I have retained

these cards are very similar

They're both 2/1s. They both have a reason why opponents will probably let it just ping them all game (flying for the pixies, first strike/death touch for the tonberry) instead of blocking.

But the Il Mheg pixie gives you a surveil every turn when you attack with it

Now, the Il Mheg pixies DOES cost an additional colorless mana, but that doesn't matter as much as you'd think, because Tonberries enter stunned

So if they're your opening play, they can start attacking on exactly the same turn

Il Mheg pixies are just a better version of the tonberry

(if you don't have a way to compel your opponents to block the green boys, which I do not have)

and enters tapped is really annoying on later turns where the faerie could come down and be a blocker itself

Yeah

TOnberry might go nuts in a deck that can buff its damage though

Attach a bunch fo equipment to it so the opponent can't just ignore it

and if they spend removal to kill it you still have the equipment

and you just traded a one-mana creature for a removal card

Cecil is probably just better at that despite the risky life loss

Doesn't have first strike, though. But yeah, not wrong.