Topic: Standard Simic

http://deckbox.org/sets/628488 the decklist.

So this is a fairly decent simic deck that one of my friend's helped me together after i pulled a Kiora, the Crashing Wave during a triple born draft on Games Day at the card shop I went to, its been modified several times already but I wanna know if there's anyway to speed it up or make it better in anyway, I'm currently on the hunt for another Fathom Mage, 2 more Prophets and a couple other pieces (like maybe Kiora's Follower either instead of or with the Voyaging Satyrs). Kiora herself is a backup card if everything else doesn't get drawn soon enough to kill the opponent. again, just looking for advice on how to make it better/quicker or if its good 'nuff as is. Haven't played it in a standard tourney yet, but I might tomorrow night.

Re: Standard Simic

So my first suggestion would be to just to go scout out your local FNM to see how competitive the environment is.  In the event that it's super competitive, you might not do very well (which can be frustrating for a newer player).  To that end, you're using a bunch of cards that really don't see a lot of play in more competitive environments for good reason - they're just too slow or inconsistent.

Here are a pair of U/G based decks that I've been working on as of late to try to have fun with Kiora.  The first is a purely U/G build that works like many of the mono-green devotion builds but has the added punch of some card draw, prophet, and the like.  It's the more expensive of the two to build, but it's probably the more reliable/consistent of them.  The second splashes red for a few added pieces - namely the land destruction.  Oddly enough, I had a person model a deck after this one and they said they were "cleaning up" at their local FNM with it... so there's definitely some promise there.  The majority of the cost is, unfortunately, in the mana-base.  If you were to invest in the shocks they'll certainly hold their value for the most part (even post-rotation) but at least the temples would be a good start as they still have almost a full two years of standard play ahead of them.  In either event, the second deck is hilarious to play, quite effective at destroying lands, and is roughly $100 cheaper to build.

The first one: Fishy Fishayy - http://deckbox.org/sets/640033

The second one: Splish Splash - http://deckbox.org/sets/628705

Having given you directions to look at those, I would hope you see where they're going to be more resilient to threats than your current build.  Against a tier 1 deck (or even a really good home-brew) you're going to struggle, as things like Leafcrown Dryad, Forced Adaptation, Feral Invocation, Fathom Mage, and Species Gorger really just won't get you there. 

Consider for a moment the Gorger.  If I'm your opponent I'll be killing off all your other creatures, as the Gorger's ability is not a "may" but a "must" trigger.  This means that I can happily leave it alone each turn and focus on all your other stuff as you will be forced to unsummon it turn-after-turn.  I get that it's for repeat evolve triggers, but it's unlikely that it will fulfill that role reliably.  Similarly, Fathom Mage is unlikely to survive beyond really the first or second turn they have a crack at it.

I can see where this deck is likely a lot of fun for the kitchen table and more casual settings (which is definitely a good thing), but in a more competitive environment, I don't think it'll produce the same results you're accustomed to seeing.