-- Comments --

The Peacekeeper is a real MVP. If you can play him on T3, play him. You can frequently jam up their hand more than long enough that they have already lost the grind. Aim for top-ends or make your opponent miss earlier turns by disrupting their curve. Against aggro, all of the 2/X creatures will be stopped dead in their tracks by the 3/3 body.

DO NOT FORGET: Anointed Peacekeeper taxes every copy in your opponent's hand, and every copy they draw later. If your opponent has two or more copies, you should more strongly consider taxing that card.

T2 Bankbuster into T3 Peacekeeper happens pretty often. This makes your game plan less clunky than it is in other decks when you opt to play the Bankbuster on your second turn instead of holding up mana for removal. Being able to swing in for 4 on turn 3 starts the clock ticking fast. Starting on T4, you can swing in with the vigilant Peacekeeper on your turn, and crew with the same Peacekeeper to block with the Bankbuster on theirs.

Always start The Cruelty of Gix on chapter 1 if you plan on fetching Depopulate. If you read ahead to chapter 2, you will not get the chance to have your stolen creature stick around. Plus, you will not get the option to choose a creature from among those destroyed by your sweeper. The only exceptions to this are 1) When you need to worry about your saga being removed, and 2) When you have enough mana to cast Depopulate the same turn that you play Cruelty. You want Blood on the Snow At Home, not Doomskar At Home.

The Cruelty of Gix can accrue loads of value by tutoring for Invoke Despair. Similarly, you will always want to consider tutoring for March of Wretched Sorrow. It may not seem like much, but you can swing a game with the targeted creature kill plus life gain. Like with Depopulate, you will need to consider whether your graveyard target is on the battlefield before deciding to read ahead. But doing so is much less likely to result in value loss.

Yes, you can loop Shigeki endlessly with Soul Transfer. No, you do not need it. This deck has so many ways to reload your hand, I have found Soul Transfer to be somewhat of a detriment. The loop can only begin on turn 6. At that point, you're still temporarily stone-raining yourself down to 2.5 lands and only barely accruing card advantage. If you are absolutely desperate for it, feel free to replace a single Shigeki with Soul Transfer to tutor with Cruelty. But I would not advise any more than that.

Speaking of Shigeki, don't be afraid to hard-cast him on turn 2 against any deck that isn't running black. You have more than enough copies, and will get a free block and added mana consistency by using his ability. It feels very good to pull out one of the life-gaining tap lands with this ability.

Don't try cutting the tap lands until BRO comes along with Llanowar Wastes. You must keep non-black lands to a bare minimum in order to cut down on games where Invoke Despair gets stuck in your hand. To add, the life gain does matter on occasion. Your spells are costed well enough to play around them.