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I'll second everything elpablo is throwing out there... but if you're still convinced that the rats are the way to go, I'd suggest going B/G rather than B/W...  I put together a shell of a build a while back that you can see at http://deckbox.org/sets/260195.  Obviously this isn't much of a deck at the moment, but it's something to run with.  Varolz offers some nice options and, to be honest, you could deal with the few pieces of yard hate if that's the biggest problem.  I just like the idea that Jarad's Orders would give you another four shots at hitting Pack Rat (then again, we see how much tutoring is being played right now).

I'll think on the deck a bit more and can propose a different build a bit later after I have a chance to think on it some more.  Rats might suck... but it's different, and different is good in my books!

Really you're close enough to RDW (Red Deck Wins) that I'm not sure having the black splash helps you all that much. 

Young Pyromancer has the potential to be a sick card, but at current nobody has really figured out whether it's more for control or aggro builds.  On the one hand, the thought of dropping more creatures is nice, but they're not really big enough to do all that much for you without some help.  Even if you consider them as an asset with Hellrider, you could still easily be pumping out 1/1s with Krenko, Mob Boss, Krenko's Command or even Thatcher Revolt.

The question is whether you want to be aggro or a bit more controlling - sadly trying to do both at once isn't typically a good strategy.  By this I mean you'll want more aggressive, haste creatures rather than all that removal (or vice versa).  I'm thinking you might slide the Dreadbores and some of the Doom Blades over to the sideboard and replace them with Rakdos Shred-Freaks or something to that end.

Look around at the different RDW builds and pick and choose what you want to go with... obviously if you're in a Tier 1 populated area, then you'll want to run with a more similar decklist, but if your LGS isn't as full of people just net-decking, then have some fun with it.  Personally, I'm a fan of Sire of Insanity and could see more of a Rakdos/Jund midrange, but that's just me.

As AsymptomaticPyrexia has said, you should explore starting a bad trading report; however, I would imagine that if you haven't sent your cards out yet, then they'll likely just suggest you cancel the trade and leave negative feedback as your only loss in the trade was time (although sometimes that's worth more than the cards sent...).

I'm going to second elpablo's suggestion that you narrow the color spectrum for your deck.  For whatever reason, the M14 slivers might as well be from a Naya shard than something five color.  Without all stars like Sliver Queen, Sliver Legion, and Sliver Overlord, there really aren't reasons to slide in those extra two colors.

This is a ROUGH build I've pieced together that would focus on all post-rotation viable sliver pieces (and lord knows what Theros will give us in these colors).

Creatures
3 Elvish Mystic
4 Manaweft Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
3 Sentinel Sliver
3 Blur Sliver
4 Bonescythe Sliver
2 Battle Sliver

Instants and Sorceries
3 Hive Stirrings
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Shock
2 Celestial Flare

Planeswalkers
3 Domri Rade

Artifacts
2 Door of Destinies

Enchantments
1 Collective Blessing
1 Primeval Bounty

Land
4 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden

Now I'm not saying this is an optimal build by any stretch of the imagination, but you'll note that it has some added diversity to help out your plan.  I think it's an easy mistake to make to simply slide in all slivers and nothing else, but you will encounter creatures or other things that you simply have no answer for in your current setup.

Lands aside, here are some thoughts on the archetype:

1) You're still sitting on a pretty creature heavy deck here with 23 creatures, 20 of them being slivers.  The Elvish Mystics are really just meant to offer another mana accelerator and they could easily be replaced with some lands or other spells/slivers.

2) Realistically, you are going to run into threats on their side of the board that you will have to answer.  Whether it be Olivia Voldaren, a planeswalker, or something else, if you go the 100% slivers route, you have no means to deal with their board threats.  Simply put, I could see Angel of Serenity, Kalonian Hydra, or even Archangel of Thune single-handedly taking you down.  The addition of some point removal is critical.  In this build I've proposed you have a variety of options ranging from Shock for disruption, Celestial Flare for larger threats or hexproof creatures, and Mizzium Mortars for larger threats.  Keep in mind these are by no means the only options available... the sky is the limit, but you NEED at least some versatility.

3) Personally, I'm not a believer in the slivers that cost more than four or five mana.  Giving them all trample might be nice and all, but you could be doing more for seven mana than just playing Groundshaker Sliver (if you're needing trample that much, Skarrg Guildmage is out there... and there are other options).  Further, Megantic Sliver works wonders in limited, but in a constructed environment, it will get wiped out more often than it will do any good.  Rather, what I suggest are a few six drops that are in your colors that will have a bit more effect.  Collective Blessing is the exact same thing as Megantic Sliver, but it's an enchantment, making it harder to deal with.  Further, Primeval Bounty creates a card advantage engine that the opponent likely won't be able to overcome... it will turn that t7 Manaweft Sliver into a larger threat with an added 3/3 beast token, late land drops become life gain, and your removal will serve to further pump your slivers.  I just see this as the sort of answer to drawn out games much like Assemble the Legion has been in some upper tiered decks.  Again, just my two cents lobbying for a card... take it or leave it.  But the key here is to be making some more headway when you're spending 5-6 mana rather than just dropping a sliver who will get blasted immediately.

4) I really do think Domri Rade really works in any sliver deck... he creates added card draws and offers spot removal.  What's not to love here?

5) Door of Destinies... tribal deck and you're not running at least 1-2 of these?

Anyway, I'll leave it up to you to decide what to take or leave from this proposed build, but the key things to think about when running with slivers is to reduce your colors to improve consistency, add some non-sliver cards to increase your versatility and flexability to deal with other threats, and rethink the top of your curve.

Best luck with it!

I tried running Vexing Devils in a Jund build on DM gameday to cash in on Varolz's shenaniganry, but honestly, outside of the 4 direct damage, the devils were seldom useful.  Now, that aside, depending on what else you're building, you might be well suited to use them as they can do other things - namely they DO enter the battlefield before they're sacked, meaning they are an EXCELLENT creature to further evolve those Experiment Ones.  Similarly, they're the one drop you probably aren't unhappy to cast out of Burning-Tree Emissary (them and Rancor).

Based on the list you posted, you're not THAT hard up once rotation hits.

Correct me if I'm missing something, but I see you losing the following cards:

Avacyn's Pilgrim, Arbor Elf, Strangleroot Geist, Silverblade Paladin, Sigarda, Vorapede, Faith's Shield, Farseek, Rancor, and Sunpetal Grove.

Yes, this is a large share of the deck that is rotating, but even without anything from Theros being spoiled yet, there are plenty of suitable replacements.

Avacyn's Pilgrim/Arbor Elf - Elvish Mystic fills in some here.  It might not be a perfect swap, but it's a good start.

Strangleroot Geist - Kalonian Tusker is a good option here.  Sure it doesn't have haste or undying, but a 3/3 for two green is almost always solid.

Silverblade Paladin - Nothing is going to grant double strike like this here, but Fiendslayer Paladin is a pretty good start.  2/2, first strike, lifelink, and just short of pro-red and black... yeah... that should do well.  If you're in need of removal, Banisher Priest could work here too - not as aggro, but it gives you a 2/2 and provides an option to maintain the pressure on your opponent.

Sigarda... well... nothing is going to be as effective here or as resilient to everything.  That aside, Archangel of Thune is an absolute house and it works well with the board presence you're building.  If you're hard up for something with hexproof, Witchstalker strikes me as a good option.

Vorapede - again, no direct replacement, but there are options.  I would suggest lowering your curve here.... given the aggro-ish nature of the deck, you might want things that are a bit cheaper.  Deadbridge Goliath perhaps?

Faith's Shield - this swaps almost seamlessly with Brave the Elements.

Farseek - we can hope we get something similar in Theros.  Perhaps the one-drop land search spell in M14 in a total pinch. 

Rancor - it will be missed... but two things are working for you here.  First, Theros is said to be an enchantment heavy block - so it's possible we will see our little friend once again (or something comparable).  Second, I would say to just up your count of Unflinching Courages.

Lastly, Sunpetal Grove - a few Selesnya Guildgates can work here.  They're not ideal, but they're an option.

Obviously rotation will need you to rethink the deck a bit and work on things, but there are options.

I mean it looks good enough.  First question being, who is the general?  I'm guessing one of the Nivs... but which one?

Second, Izzet Chronarch strikes me as being a more expensive Archaeomancer for what it's worth.

Third, if you're running original Niv as your general, Curiosity equates to an instant win if you put it on him.  Kind of a dick move, but effective depending on how competitively you play.

Fourth, nothing other than Ral grants extra turns?

Fifth, why not use some lower CMC dragons, i.e. Slumbering Dragon, with Call to the Kindred to try and cheat some of the other dragons out?

Sixth, while you are going to be sitting on the biggest creatures with evasion, you might not need it often, but things like Favorable Winds or even Door of Destinies can be quite useful.

Lastly, I've found that U/R often lacks quite a bit with regard to solid removal options.  If a creature is out of burn range, you can't do much to it other than try to counter it.  Why not toss in some added unsummon effects (Temporal Adept is Unsummon on a stick) and some creature counters (I'm thinking both Essence Scatter and Essence Backlash).

While you are correct that your artifact and enchantment board wipes are more capable of taking out opposing gear, they also take out yours and given all the equipment and enchantments you're running, well, who do you figure will lose out more from a board wipe like that.  I mean if you're just wanting to completely clear the field, you could easily run Planar Cleansing and chuckle as you take out EVERYTHING.  But then you're just as wiped out without anything to really fall back on and no real way to get it out of your yard.  Targeted artifact/enchantment hate can let you keep yours up and then drop their most important pump after they commit to an attack, letting you blow them out.

As far as cards I would cut, start with the following and work down the list:

- Bushi Tenderfoot (how many times does he actually get flipped?)
- Signal Pest
- Accorder Paladin
- Auriok Steelshaper (without better equipment, really, many of the equipment support cards can be dropped - think the swords for equipment you'd want, at which point you'll want to toss in Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, and a few others like that)
- Odric, Master Tactician - I'm just not completely sold on him being in here... he might work wonders though if used correctly
- Captain of the Watch - unless you're whole-heartedly into the soldiers tribal... why?
- Darien, King of Kjeldor - same as CotW
- Jareth, Leonine Titan - not seeing why he's here at all
- I think you have a few too many fog effects - so feel free to remove a few of them
- Rebuff the Wicked - what's the ONE thing you're looking to protect that much?
- Debt of Loyalty
- Ghostway - not sure why this is in here to begin with... flickering can be useful, but there are better, more consistent ways to do this
- Hold the Line - if you're sitting on that many fog effects, wouldn't you just let them through, cast that, and then swing for the win?  Why worry about this pump?
- Choose between the equipment and the pumping enchantments you really could focus on one or the other
- Gideon, Champion of Justice - he does what for you?

- Add more plains, you might as well drop the Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse - trust me, thinning out the deck by two cards isn't worth the delay you get bringing your lands into play tapped
- Also, Emeria, the Sky Ruin can be epic if your games go on long enough
-

So for starters, it's typically a good idea to allocate somewhere between 30 and 35 cards to being land for the deck.  You're sitting at 28 currently, meaning you'll often find yourself on the short end of the mana stick.  In no other format will you be as frustrated as EDH if you're land screwed, as the creatures and plays your opponents make will continue to get more and more extravagant and expensive while you're just sitting playing a game of draw-pass-go.  Oath of Lieges could help in this regard.

For the land, I'm not sure I'm following why you would put Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds over just two more plains.  You're only going to get more plains... so why not?

Are you set on having Takeno as your general?  I'm seeing several legendaries that could work equally well, if not better.  I'd suggest when you're playtesting to change generals around to see how it plays with some of the other options.  If you can, cheaper generals are great.  If you have an expensive one, it should likely win the game almost immediately (for instance, Raksha Golden Cub when equipped with several of the swords can deal fatal general damage in a single swing, justifying the wait until you have seven or more mana to bring him in).

You have a LOT of equipment based stuff in here, but I'm not really seeing much in the way of meaningful or essential equipment.  This might be an area to drop some cards to help create space.

I would suggest thinking about some things that would benefit from the mostly humans/samurai tribal thing you have going.  I'm thinking both Door of Destinies and potentially Coat of Arms could be of use.  If you decide to keep equipment as a part of the deck, Konda's Banner for sure.  I could also see where things like Thraben Doomsayer or other human stuff from the Innistrad block might be helpful too.  Riders of Gavony would be hilarious against another tribal deck.

Disenchant or some means of artifact removal would be great too.  Perhaps some more open removal like Oblivion Ring could help deal with opposing walkers too.

Lastly, I'm thinking perhaps a board wipe or some other means to totally shift the board in your favor for your big game-winning swing would be in order.  Mass Calcify is one option, as would be Blinding Light.  You've done well to include plenty of Fog effects as EDH tends to be an all-or-nothing format where the ability to dodge the first killing stroke can easily lead to victory, but if you want to make the first move, you'll need a way to ensure you can get through.  Spare from Evil is another card that could work wonders as tribal humans typically doesn't get much play in EDH.

I hope all this helps.  Good luck!

I'm coming to this discussion late, but here are my two cents.

First off, the modern "fetchlands," i.e. Arid Mesa, are easily much better than gates and the less sought after "fetches" like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse.  They let you get shocks, they get dual colors, lots of stuff.  They're staples in modern and legacy decks too - hence their hefty pricetags.

So if we exclude them for a moment, the focus seems to be on the comparison between playing gates and the lesser fetches (Wilds/Expanse).  To this end, they're both not bad options especially in a standard format that's about to lose all the M13 and Innistrad duals.

Why go Gate?
Gates offer the benefit of a dual color land.  If you're running something with a LOT of color specific casting costs, well, this wins hands down.  Yes, it comes in tapped just like the basic from the baby fetches, but which would you rather have?  A tapped basic or a tapped dual?  The key here is the flexibility - which comes at the cost of some speed.  (Nevermind the shenanigans if you start playing Maze's End or some of the gatekeepers).

Why go Baby Fetches?
These are often best suited if you're running a deck that really just has to worry about splashes of other colors.  Much like the group has pointed out, Farseek has been huge over the past year as it would let people go grab the shocks they need for all their color fixing.  Admittedly the baby fetches cannot go grab a shock for you, but if you only need ONE white symbol in a deck, you can easily drop in a single plains, some shocks that have white, and perhaps 2-3 baby fetches with the knowledge that you will be able to get that white symbol rather reliably.  BUT, perhaps more importantly, the baby shocks come with the added advantage of helping to thin out the remaining cards in your deck.  It might not seem like much, but if you have 50 some odd cards remaining in your library, removing that one more land will increase your odds of drawing that one card you're looking for, improving deck flow and consistency.

So which is better?  Well, to be honest, it's entirely situational.  If you're running two colors (or more) you should run the gates as they're essentially duals, just a bit slower than we've admittedly been spoiled having.  If you're just splashing a color, the baby fetches will work in your favor in a few ways.

Then again, Theros might give us reprints of the original fetches for all we know...

To speak directly to your questions:

1) Mono-black is becoming increasingly viable with the release of M14.  It might not be tier-one (or winning major tournaments) but there are definitely a lot of options to have some fun.  The zombies route will likely take a hit once Innistrad rotates, but there are still plenty of options given the wealth of removal at your disposal.

2) Black really lost the mana-ramping abilities when Dark Ritual went away (believe me, as someone who used to LOVE the T1 Ritual into Erg Raiders with Unholy Strength, I was sad to see it wasn't standard legal).  That being said, there are a few options for black "ramping" via Crypt Ghast and Liliana of the Dark Realms, but with both at the four drop, you really don't end up actually "ramping" into anything without adding other colors.  I mean if you're interested this is a fringe deck, but one that looks like a LOT of fun to play that uses the Crypt Ghasts (and Clones of them) to give you a TON of mana to extort and cast Griselbrand (see the decklist here: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles … ide-combo/).

3) The only black PW really seeing play is Liliana of the Veil, although I suspect that will change with the arrival of Theros (both because Little Lily will rotate out, but also because black is due for a new PW.  But that's just speculation on my part.  Personally, I wouldn't stress PWs if you're going mono-black as you can be doing lots of other things.  Additionally, Lily otV is EXPENSIVE and about to rotate - aka, not worth picking up this late in the game.

4) For playing ante... good luck finding people to play that way.  All the old ante cards are banned from all forms of competitive play.  BUT, if you ARE playing for ante... not much beats the good ole Contract from Below.