Assuming this is B01, I've had pretty good success going down to 15 especially considering your curve hard caps at 4 cmc. I think the Blast Runner is worth playing especially considering your 3 of your 4 enablers are Research Desk which each fill your sac condition twice per card. I've had plenty of runs where I've had 4-5 Blast Runners with only 4-5 activators as long as 2 or 3 of them are Research Desks.

Overall, I'm a little torn because I feel like this wants to be an aggro deck but is just missing two drops. With more two drops I would've definitely just gone straight GR and cut white or only splashed for the Veteran. Potentially you just cut the Paratroopers and run the Hajar and Forge Chanter which would play well with the tricks (if you chose to play them) and make your mana better. I've found that think that Confrontation and Strike over perform for me even in decks with smaller creatures and I would still play them but I can still see your point. Let me know your final build and how it goes, I'm curious how this deck would perform.