Dead Cylinder help me diagnose.

Pull the vc off and do a visual inspection of the rocker, valve spring and pushrod. You'll need to pull the pushrod out and check it for straightness by rolling it on a flat surface.

There are many other potential sources of your problem however. You could have a worn or broken piston ring allowing oil to enter the combustion chamber, or a burnt valve. Did water ever get in the cylinder? If so, it could have rusted up the bore and ruined the rings when you started it up. Do a compression check at minimum, and if you can get access to a leakdown gage, use that to assess the health of the cylinder in question.

A collapsed lifter means the plunger is not pumping up to take up the slack in valve lash. It won't have any effect on being able to remove it. If the lash was set properly before the plunger collapsed, you'll have a large valve lash that will cause a ticking noise. If the lash was set with the plunger collapsed, the valve won't seat once it's pressurized and that cylinder won't fire. However, if that's the only problem, the spark plug won't be sooty because without compression it won't light off.

You didn't give us much to go on. You're going to have to just dive in and start checking things. Make note of anything that looks wrong, like exhaust or oil in the intake.