What sets Excalibur, Sword of Eden apart is the high MV, which can be offset by cards like mana rocks and affinity creatures, but the high cost is often a benefit for equipment commanders like Captain America, First Avenger
There are great cards for mana fixing and its built into the cycling itself, land type cycling like Lorien Revealed
Cards like Kederekt Parasite, Gleeful Arsonist, and Ankh of Mishra punish your opponents for taking the slightest of game actions, turning the game into a slugfest and putting a clock on everybody
Diamond and Chrome even let you take advantage of all the cards in your hand
Much better in the slower builds than the aggressive ones obviously
Archetype of Aggression Red gives us the trample lord with Archetype of Aggression