I have run Mardu midrange focused on tokens for more than half a year and I think I have some experience with this type of deck.

The very first thing I have noticed here. You have here Dark Confidant . No doubt he is great, but I think that if you run him, you definitely should not have here cards that has CMC as high as 6. The possibility to take 6 from him really sucks. Therefore I suggest you to drop both the Elspeth, Sun's Champion and the Captain of the Watch .

Secondly. I am not sure what I am looking at. Is this supposed to be aggro? If so, it is just so slow. Or is it supposed to be control? If so, then it has basically no strength in the late game and surviving into late game is also not certain. Or is this supposed to be midrange? That type of deck seems to fit the best, but then it is again very weak midrange deck, as you have almost no way here how to protect your guys.

This deck should most probably be midrange. Your main power are tokens and you start producing them on T3 or so (that is the reason why this deck is definitely not an aggro deck). With that in mind, you should think about what you will be doing in the previous two turn. The best possibility is to run hand disruption spells. Thoughtseize , Inquisition of Kozilek and Tidehollow Sculler are very, very strong in a deck like this. You remove almost any threat from their hand and then the game will be much more pleasant.

Also, Lightning Bolt should be a 4-of. It is probably one of the best spells you might have here. Direct damage or spot removal in just one card, now that is strong. The same true is for Lightning Helix . The lifegain is very, very important against quick aggro decks.

Now, what I would remove. One of the removed card would definitely be Akroan Hoplite . This card is weak by itself, you have to have good board position to have use from it and even then it is vulnerable to absolutely any spot removal or can be chump blocked, or traded by any creature with power 2 or greater. It could have been good if it had trample, but as it is now, it is too weak.

Another card like this is Legion Loyalist . You deck isn't fast enough to have big use from him and by the time you have enough creatures to have use from him, you are most probably winning anyway. Again, just by itself, he is quite weak and is relatively good only for attacking.

I am also not sure about Mardu Ascendancy . Most of your creatures on the board will be tokens, thus will have no advantage from the ascendancy. It also has very specific mana cost and is good only when you are attacking. To effectively use it, your deck is too slow.

It also might be worth removing Glory of Warfare .

You may also check out my Mardu midrange deck. I thing you may find here some inspiration:

I see what you mean in the deck being a bit scattered. I've narrowed the deck down with some big changes. Threw in some more board control with more lightning bolts/helixes, some more token production via Raise the Alarm and Young Pyromancer (Despite my love of Mardu Ascendancy, my now thinned out creatures list just makes it impractical). Got rid of Dark Confidant in exchange for Phyrexian Arena, bumped up Elspeth by another 1 (I'm considering getting rid of Sorin, but he is another source of creature removal, namely sacrifice which is harder to avoid, and his +1 for lifelink and +1/+0 to all my tokens is just amazing lifegain potential in conjunction with the life I'm gaining from Helix).

Tell me what you think of the new deck.

No Liliana of the Veil for budget concerns, or another reason?

Mainly budget reasons yes. If I could I would. Not sure what I would drop to put her in though. Would probably take out a Glory of Warfare and put in 1 Liliana.

I think that now it looks better. The fact that you have options how to affect the board is huge. I still think that some hand disruption spells would be good here. It is a way how to control what will be played and what won't. Lastly, you may also consider Night's Whisper as the card draw engine (it has synergy with Young Pyromancer ).

Sign in Blood can be better than Night's Whisper in case you need a crazy two damage clutch win and all the bolts and helixes are gone :V