Hm, maybe. Illness in the Ranks might be just better; it’s less effective but more efficient.

Getting your 5 drop pathed, bounced, countered or remanded is such a huge tempo loss that you probably lose on the spot. Meanwhile if your 1drop gets decayed you probably don’t mind, as that ‘s a decay they don’t have for your other threats. If they are forced to leave mana up for a decay or path it’s also a tempo swing for you. The fact that it dodges Anger, burn and lili while also providing you with a mana sink you otherwise didn’t have is just icing on the cake. This card has a ton of upside for the low cost of 1 mana and I can definitely see it getting played in aggro-control (tempo) decks, perhaps even midrangier control decks.

Similarly, Secure the Wastes isn’t something that any existing deck needs – no one even plays WSZ (except Wafu when he’s feeling frisky), and this is just worse. Again, control isn’t short on finishers.

Interesting thoughts on Sarkhan. I was initially excited about him in RUG Twin / Control, but can’t really disagree about the 4/4’s matching up poorly against today’s ground-beaters. That being said, maindeck Roast doesn’t seem crazy, and maybe balances things out well enough. Sarkhan is a repeated source of card advantage, and a RUG deck is likely playing Goyfs already – I’ve heard those guys are good at blocking.