Old mana bases got rather better
If you don't control both Fang and Vanille at that time, the ability won't resolve, you won't have the opportunity to pay , and none of the ability's other effects will happen
Pluto, Friendly Pooch is a great tool that helps this deck put the pressure on, and I expect it will have a place in the Into the Inklands meta as well
Counterbalance has a hard time containing all of the discard and the creatures while setting up the lock, so you can usually either be ahead on the board by the time they assemble Counterbalance with Senseis Divining Top, or you can grind out a long game without having to fear being locked
(It's an artifact with ", , Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.") Create a Treasure token