Pale Rider Rakano

Still somewhat a WIP but I had a great run in Masters tonight and thought I'd post it.

The main combo is Zealous Artisan + Pale Rider's Timepiece. It's near impossible to play Timepiece in this deck without Artisan. While this is a restriction, the influence requirements become very easy (FFJJ) once you accept that and focus on Rakano :)

There are 15 draws that can help you get Zealous Artisan in hand:
-Rujin's Choice
-Ixtun Merchant
-Winchest Merchant
-Plus the 3 copies in main deck.

There are 10 draws that can help you get Pale Rider's Timepiece in hand:
-Dragon Forge
-Kerendon Merchant
-Plus the 2 copies in main deck.

Ideally, you'll have Crownwatch Paladin (or a Xulta Convoy) in play before using the combo. This will give your opponent a headache. At least one other unit will also be okay if you don't have the paladin. Your main goal is to set up this combo, being very efficient with power usage on each turn until t5-6, and then take over the game. Deepforged Plate also won me many games when I couldn't find a Timepiece, often combined with Rujin's Choice.

Xo of the Endless Hoard is included merely to provide all the merchants some trading fodder. On occasion, he can be useful if the game goes long. Can also be tutored with Forge.

The deck has pretty good potential for comebacks and turning the game around with a big Lifesteal-Killer turn. Elysian (Equivocate) is a hard counter to this deck and is pretty frustrating to play against. Combrei also has some common tricks in Desert Marshal and Aamri's Choice. However, most other matchups have gone pretty well.

EDIT:
-Swapped Siraf, Grand Strategist for Kodosh's Armor but not sure which I like more. Armor helps create an ideal scenario of Aegis units that would all receive a super Exalted weapon but not sure if the change hurt the early game too much yet.
-Also currently exploring Xulta Foil in place of Auric Runehammer. This seems like a great option against control decks with little board presence.