Gruul Embercleave bo1 (updated version 3) (Standard)

The Jund version I played went for a record of 8-2:

I tested the deck for 10 games and had very positive results. The deck went 8-2 overall and was dominant in many of the wins.
The deck obliterates the small aggresive decks as they cannot keep pace at all and struggle to chump block my trample, Hellkite, and Questing Beast.
The deck also beats up on Jeskai Fires as many creatures survive Deafening Clarion and turn 4 for the opponent is a setup turn and for me that is the beat you senseless turn. My big beats come a turn faster than Jeskai's. It all comes down to your draws. If you play Bonecrusher Giant then Jeskai is favored much more than if you have turn three Spellbreaker or Questing Beast.
*The two losses were to Grixis Fires and Dimir Flash. Grixis fires overwhelmed me with removal and card draw before I suffered a Planeswalker beatdown. I'd call it a severe domination.

*Dimir Flash was a really close game that reached the point of both of us having no cards in hand and having little value on board. The game was totally in my control however at one point. I had Rotting Regisaur on board and my hand was one land, a Paradise Druid, and Embercleave. So I play my land for turn (couldn't possibly have predicted this mistake against a flash deck) and pass knowing I will discard the Paradise Druid and have a big Regisaur swing equipped with Embercleave. I was not anticipating the opponent forcing me to discard a card...now I had to discard my own Embercleave to the Regisaur trigger. I suspected maybe Embercleave could be countered, but not this swing. Regisaur is killed by Swift End a few turns later and I'm topdecking with the opponent at 4 life. In the end the opponent drew real cards and I drew lands plus a Paradise Druid and that was that. He grinded out a win with a Brineborn Cutthroat.

*Overall, Embercleave Was the all-star. Games with Embercleave were very one-sided. I am happy to say that the deck still performs exceptionally well without Embercleave. Games that go Paradise Druid into threat, threat, threat tend to get it done as well lol. I had one game where my opening hand had a Paradise Druid, x3 Gruul Spellbreaker's, and three lands. It looked funky, but wow did it hit hard.

*Another big takeaway I had is that you must watch out playing Threat. The 4/4 beast token is a liability against Brazen Borrower and Teferi, Time Raveler. You are much better off holding onto cast Thrash when you are playing against blue.

*My biggest takeaway is that the deck does not need to play black at all. I found that Rotting Regisaur was often just a big body that took away my own steam with discard. I did win a couple of games by slapping Embercleave on the Dino, but I could still have won those games by slapping Embercleave on one of my other 3cmc creatures. Between the difficult casting with black and throwing away threats, in the future I'm going to try going back to Gruul.

Deckbuilding:

In this version I am cutting black. The black is mainly to play Rotting Regisaur and I just found throwing away cards to be a bigger draw back than the occasional auto win of Dino+Embercleave. The other use is for card draw on Rix-Maadi Reveler. I found this card draw very limited anyways.

Replacement for Rotting Regisaur:
+2 Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp (Only limited before due to Regisaur)
+2 Voracious Hydra (Solid removal on a stick or can be a 4/4 trampler by turn three.)

What I want from my 4/5cmc creatures is haste. I want to blow things out as fast as possible.
At 4cmc Questing Beast is the clear winner in the haste challenge.
At 5cmc the clear choice is Skarrgan Hellkite.

I want to add a second 3cmc creature and I have to look no further than the Gruul deck for this one. Gruul Spellbreaker is the perfect choice for an Embercleave deck. It has haste if you want to be aggressive or if you topdeck it, it can be a 4/4 to avoid 3 damage removal. Having hexproof on your turn makes it a great Embercleave target since it can't be spot removed when suited up and the trample is a big finisher.

Paradise Druid is the clear choice for a 2cmc creature. Ramping is exactly what the deck needs to be doing and playing three colors in an aggressive deck requires some extra mana fixing.

Turn 1 can easily just be playing a land tapped and saying go. I do however want a turn 1 play that is not hard on our mana. Enter Pelt Collector. We already want green for turn 2 and Paradise Druid helps it grow (and every creature after easily does so.) The opponent needs to remove Pelt Collector before it gets out of hand, but they also need the removal for every other creature up the curve.

Next I want to fill out my creature curve. My goal is x3 2cmc, x2 3cmc, and x2 4cmc. I want creatures that are easy to cast (so no double black or red):

a) 3cmc-
*Easiest choice, Bonecrusher Giant. 4 power, hurts to remove it, and removal on turn 2. Also, can be two sneaky damage to finish off a game late.

b) Cut 2cmc- Rix Maadi Reveler. Add Rimrock Knight.
With black cut Rix-Maadi serves far less purpose.
I choose Rimrock Knight as the replacement because the slot is very limited in options. Zhur-Taa Goblin is very one demsional, Kraul Harpooner is much weaker with Gilded Goose no longer on the loose and there being very few small fleyers, and Growth Chamber Guardian is weaker in a deck with haste creatures since you cannot threaten pump as well.

c) 4cmc- Thrash // Threat
I'm cheating and combining my creature slots with removal. Thrash is great removal with my giant creatures and Threat is a solid 4/4 body with trample. Nice bonus.
I'm bumping it up to three copies since it serves two purposes.

The deck has two slots remaining and I want it to be catch all removal. The best card at doing that is Assassin's Trophy. I'm ok with the opponent getting a land so I can blow up whatever I want. I'm dropping bombs so fast that I just need a way to clear a path in most cases.

Mana Base
*My only consideration is if I should cut the x2 Fabled Passage for basic lands. I think the deck can afford them, they can be played tapped turn 1 with no Pelt Collector, turn 4 untapped, and sometimes turn three with a Paradise Druid helping to play a 3cmc threat. The games where it hurts will be far outnumbered by the games it finds that perfect land to hit everything on curve.

Analysis the Outcome:
*The deck is very explosive and a handful for the opponent to deal with.

*Instead of being defensive I'm going to go even further into the offensive. I'm scrapping a Hellkite and Assassin't Trophy's for Collision // Colossus. It is still occasional removal and Colossus is a straight game finisher. It is another way to give Regisaur Trample, but every creature is a dangerous trampler with an extra 4 power.

*Additional cards I've considered:
-Stonecoil Serpent (curves nicely and has some level of protection, but can't be a Colossus target)
-Assassin's Trophy
-Find // Finality
-Return of the Wildspeaker