Here we go again, this time with a twist.  Our Player in Need has been dutifully been working on amassing cards since he started.  Now, he needs a little bit of help. All right, let's get cracking. I'm gonna give out some general tips for all you people just getting started.

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Yo, what's up? I started around the time Prophecy started and been working
with the Slither since then. I'm sending in my improved version to get a
second opinion on this. Here's the deck.

Creatures (13)
3 Keldon Berserker
3 Scoria Cat
4 Silt Crawler
1 Kavu Titan
1 Thunderscape Master
1 Shivan Worm

Lands (20)
9 Mountain
9 Forest
1 Rishadan Port
1 Rath's Edge

Spells (27)
3 Citadel of Pain
2 Seal of Fire
1 War Cadence
1 Fires of Yavimaya

2 Chimeric Idol
1 Fountain of Youth
1 Well of Life
1 Rod of Ruin
1 Planar Portal

3 Hull Breach
3 Ghitu Fire
2 Savage Offence
1 Bend or Break

2 Wild Might
2 Snag
1 Magma Burst
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I'm assuming two things: One, this deck is going to be played competitively.  There are different guidelines for building fun decks, and I'm gonna try to make this deck good enough to make your opponent scream for mercy. If you want a namby pamby deck that plays little elves and fairies, try somewhere else. Two, you have a limited collection, so I'm going to break some of my guidelines.  You have some great cards, but only a few copies. I don't know what your money concerns are, so I'll build you two decks, one will be cheap and use cards you own, one will be expensive and use cards that may cost over $20. Onward.
 
Any deck overhaul starts with trimming the fat.  This includes cards that just help you win more without really contributing anything to the deck.  Next, take out any one of cards. These are random cards thrown in just in case I need it. This is a BAD IDEA. It really hurts the consistency of the deck to add in little cards that don't fit the major theme or solve a major weakness. 
This in mind, the first thing to take out is Citadel of Pain. While some of the Red tap out strategy is useful; a whole deck based on it is an easy target. Since this deck is meant to stomp all over the opponent, cards like Fountain of Youth and Well of Life would be better as big creatures that will help you win a race rather than delay your loss. Card Advantage and Tutoring power are good things, but by the time you lay Planar Portal out, you should have won. There are several other changes in the deck, but those are probably the most noticeable. Most of the other changes are there to exploit the current environment and give you a deck you can depend on.

3 Silt Crawler
4 Kavu Titan (or Hunted Wumpus)
4 Blastoderm
3 Shivan Worm
4 Llanowar Elf

4 Seal of Fire
4 Fires of Yavimaya

4 Chimeric Idol

3 Hull Breach
3 Ghitu Fire (or Blaze)

8 Mountain
10 Forest
4 Shivan Oasis
1 Rishadan Port
1 Rath's Edge

Notice the high ratio of cards you have 3 or 4 of. This makes your deck much more dependable and more likely to draw the clutch card in a tight situation.
If the Kavu Titans are hard to get, replace them with something like River Boa or Hunted Wumpus. (But watch out for those pesky Blinding Angels)

I'm gonna digress before I give the Top Dollar Decklist.  Wizards of the Coast tends to put a lot of different cards into their preconstructed decks. This is both good and bad. It shows off the many different mechanics and mini cycles they work hard to come up with. This is good. But the decks tend to be rather unplayable in a serious environment. While this does give opportunity for new players to learn, it is frustrating to plunk down $10 for a deck to find out you need $40 worth of cards to make it work..  For the players who have more cards/experience, it's a chance to teach the newbies how to play, and give away those Armadillo Cloaks left over from that all night draft party.

Even if they don't become your disciple, another playtest partner is a good thing.

All right, enough social commentary, here's the Decklist:

No, It's MY Fires

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elf
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Blastoderm
4 Assault/Battery
4 Saproling Burst
3 Kavu Chameleon
3 Earthquake
4 Fires of Yavimaya

4 Rishadan Port
4 Karplusian Forest
10 Forest
8 Mountains

Yeah, so it's another Fires deck. It still wins games, and it's a fun deck to play. Is it not good enough for you? Fine, I'll throw out another idea.

Nether Spirit and Dueling Grounds or Nether Spirit, Chimeric Idol, and Saproling Burst.

I think the second one is much better. The first one has no real way to deal with flyers, except maybe Hurricane or Wrath or some spot removal, and with Skies and Dragons flying everywhere, that's a major weakness. The second is all about recursion. Vampiric Tutor, and Yawgmoth's Agenda need to be in there.

Until Lord of Atlantis is replaced by Senator Ted Kennedy, Make Mine Magic.

Kevin Williams
Kevin@pojo.com