I disagree with you guys on the majority of those points but I'm happy to see that your both trying out the deck as the idea is just pure fun. Playing Pack Rat for value definitely has brought some new life to standard for me.
My one thing that I think should be stressed is to not jump to conclusions so quick, it seems like you guys played some really small sample sets. That said, I'm glad were all playing different iterrations to get a feel for how cards work.
A few things from my extensive testing (mostly mono black and BR builds)-
Ghost Quarter is ridiculously good. I'm not sure you guys have played enough in the situations where this is relevant. It's hands down single-handedly won me at least 6-7 games. Look at the list of major problematic lands in standard that black otherwise has few answers for - Vault of the Archangel, Gavony Township, Kessig Wolf Run, Nephalia Drownyard, Desolate Lighthouse, Moorland Haunt, etc. Furthermore, a lot of the top tier decks are super light on basics, to the point where they run 0-3 of them. Heck, in 2 matches tonight, ghost quarter was just a straight up strip mine and completely blew my opponents out of the game keeping them off both a critical threshhold of lands and certain colors. On top of it, you can use it on yourself to dig up swamps if you need double black for sign in blood and are stuck or if you need to recur veilborn ghoul. It gets a little dicier in the multi-color lists, but even there I had no trouble running 2. In the mono list 3 was absolutely great. This deck is not very management hungry after 4 mana and you have sign in blood to dig plus the stuff out of the board. Some of those tough lands to deal with can be deadly, almost everyone I mentioned can be game over for this deck and gquarter has been absolutely clutch for me against them.
I played the following list tonight at FNM, I went 3-1 overall and got 4th; 2-0 vs Junk Tokens, 2-0 vs American Auras, 0-2 vs Junk Rites, and 2-0 vs Naya Midrange. I also won a 3 game match against Owen's Jund deck on the side that another guy was playing and a few other decks in the room.
3 Ghost Quarter
21 Swamp
4 Pack Rat
4 Desecration Demon
4 Veilborn Ghoul
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Sign in Blood
4 Duress
3 Tragic Slip
3 Mutilate
2 Victim of Night
2 Murder
2 Cremate
Sideboard
3 Appetite for Brains (Jund, Control, Midrange, Rites. Exile clause relevant)
2 Curse of Death's Hold (Lingering Souls, Aggro)
2 Underworld Connections (Midrange, Control, Jund)
2 Cremate (Rites, some snapcaster decks)
2 Dead Weight (aggro)
1 Mutilate (catch all)
1 Crypt Incursion (Rites)
1 Cower in Fear (Blitz, lingering souls)
1 Staff of Nin (Control)
I liked this list a good amount, but it does need some revision. The fourth mutilate needs to be main, in all my testing this card is just so good across the whole field. Even in control matchups its usually not dead and its really the go to card you need in a lot of aggro matchups or against aristocrats / lingering souls. The other removal needs changing too. I saw a lot of people run Victim so I tried it, and while I like the card a lot in legacy, in standard its just a miss too much against some decks. Its absolutely abysmal in the Jund match and cost me a few games there. Murder on the other hand is damn sweet, instant speed kill any guy I'm pretty sure is the business I want to employ. Tragic slip is a necessary evil although I might be able to shave down to 2 if I add the fourth mutilate.
Cremate impressed me at first, but I'm quickly realizing that the rites matchup is one of the few where its got much value. Having a 1 management catrip is nice to smooth out draws but I think it'd be better as something else. One card I really missed in this list was devour flesh. That card is very effective at controlling the board alongside Liliana and your other removal and makes board control much improved. Also, unlike Travis I thought the Auras matchup was difficult when I played against it online, although I don't know what builds you were playing against. The one i played at fnm today was a little scary, but I rolled him fairly easy both games.
Duress is nuts. I'm really glad to be running it. Getting hand knowledge for your removal, getting a farseek or mulch from Jund and rites, getting verdict or planeswalkers or d-sphere, getting a rakdos return, or just something else troublesome is helpful. Even against aggro you can often snag a trump card and against midrange see a restoration angel coming or loxodon smiter waiting for your Liliana.
VEILBORN GHOUL IS RETARDED GOOD. People see him and think, oh that's cute, seems limited, almost everytime someone picks up my deck. Well I was soon gathering crowds of 15-20 people at FNM tonight as they watched me just straight rape my opponents with upwards of 6-7 triggers of this guy in combination with pack rat, lily, desecration demon, and just beating down for 4. He's fricken sick! Even one game where my opponent played RIP I just played him instead, played a demon, used lily to clear a path, and banged for 10 damage a turn.
Underworld Connections still impresses me, but I've liked this card since it was released so its not a big surprise. Every game I get this out where I'm not just dead already leads to me drawing a quarter of my deck and feeding all my cards. Curse of Death's hold has been a bit on the slow side, I'm a little bothered by how slow it is when you don't have ramp. Staff of Nin still is really cool and fun to me, but 6 mana is a lot.
I meant to play Nighthawk in my board again tonight and just forgot. He probably needs to be there against certain decks.
I need hard graveyard hate like tormod's crypt because Sin Collector is a thing now and I often am fighting through waves of Thragtusks. Or Voice of Resurgence. Shit that guy is annoying.
My worry is that the tough decks are still tough matches. They're all winnable, but it'd be great to have a better plan. I've got some cooky cards I want to test soon for jund and rites, but not sure how much time I have to see them through a few sessions.
PTQ Sunday. Time to reintroduce the Bubonic Plague
Oh and an article on Pack Rat-
www.starcitygames.com/article/25884_Untapped-Rats.html