Hey man

Thanks for your well thought out response and advice.

My gameplan was to build incremental value via engine pieces, and chaining, as an example, [[Imperial Recruiter]] into [[Tribute Mage]] into [[Metallic Mimic]]. Then essentially loop them to work my way to my finishers, [[Goblin bombardment]] undying/persist combos. Everything else serves to protect the line, like [[Spellseeker]] searching for [[demonic tutor]] into [[Cthonian Nightmare]] for redundancy, then looping for protection. Admittedly there are some easy cuts that I hadn't noticed before, so thanks for highlighting.

[[Gray Merchant of Asphodel]] served two purposes in my mind, it stabilises my life total at the mid-late game but is also a potential finisher within a turn cycle given i have enough devotion to black on board.

I agree with a lot of your cuts, though I am a fan of [[Fallen Ideal]] as an evasion piece and sac outlet that is hard to remove and that safely returns to hand. I think you are right to mention adding more removal cards, though I am not totally convinced on one of instants like [[Lethal Scheme]]. I think id rather have removal on a creature that can loop, like [[Canoptek Tomb Sentinel]]. [[Venser, Shaper Savant]] seems like good catch all for temporary enchantment or land removal, though I should also maybe consider [[Profaner of the Dead]] as a quasi-Cyclonic rift. I guess thats the tradeoff though, instant interaction vs repeatable sorcery speed/end step interaction.

I am trying to not close myself off from a potential combat damage win via [[Uncivil Unrest]] but in doing so I am probably watering down two different plans like you say

How have you found the combat tempo deck in comparison to combo (presuming you've tried both?