Have you considered Noxious Gearhulk? It works as removal, lifegain, and a win condition.

CthulhusNo1FavCultist, yes maybe to replace Ob Nixilis Reignited.

Have you look into Curious Homunculus  ^Flip for the Aether Theorists? Not a huge difference for a turn 2 x/1 vs. an x/3 but there is a decent chance to flip it into a turn 4 3/4 that reduces spell costs, just need to protect it on turn 3. Worst case it's just a lightning rod to get rid of a Harnessed Lightning that would be saved for your Niblis.

sp00nm00n Thanks for the suggestion. I did consider Curious Homunculus  ^Flip but at the time I hadn't playtested the deck yet. Now that I've gotten in a few games, I think you're spot on. I need better creatures to help me win the game and since I have no other Energy outlets, it is wasted if I need to chump block with Aether Theorist.

Yay UBx Control is back!

I appreciate your addition of Aether Theorist in the deck, because scrying is important in control builds. However, Aether Theorist doesn't scry until the following turn, and usually it will be dead by then (very vulnerable to removal). Plus, your deck doesn't need chump blockers: It can already destroy your opponent's creatures effectively (think Murder).

I would replace the Aether Theorists with 2 more Glimmer of Genius. Scry 2 Draw 2 > Scry 0

Also, Rise from the Tides is risky, because Declaration in Stone. I would replace the Rise from the Tides with 2 more Niblis of Frost. Niblis of Frost is awesome, and you won't be freezed if you run 4 of them. On the contrary, putting down 2 of your opponents creatures, swinging for 5 or 6, while having a Negate in hand is hot stuff.

Otherwise, cool deck dude! +1

Sick +1

Ackemdeil, thanks for the comment. I have been kinda back-and-forth on Aether Theorist. I will try to more Glimmer of Genius in its place and see how that goes.

Declaration in Stone, would screw up my beautiful horde of Zombies. Rise from the Tides is so good if I can untap with the tokens but how often is that gonna happen, probably not alot.

Have you taken this to fnm If so please tellMe the results

Vampire_Lord I haven't taken this deck to FNM yet, just practicing on untap.in. When I do get some real games in, I will post the results.

Did you think about Thing in the Ice  ^Flip?

Torrential Gearhulk is hands down better than every creature you have here. If the cost isn't too much, I would suggest at least getting 2 or 3.

Yeah, Thing in the Ice  ^Flip would be much better here than Aether Theorist.

You should put Thing in the Ice  ^Flip in here. You should also get rid of the 2 Ceremonious Rejection in mainboard. It should be removed and replaced with something like 2 more Void Shatter

John_Lake, Dr_Shandwich, Hamster2558: thanks for the suggestions. I have considered Thing in the Ice  ^Flip and will playtest a pair in place of Aether Theorist. My initial concern with Thing in the Ice  ^Flip was losing the Wizard tokens from Docent of Perfection  ^Flip before it was able to flip. But than I realized that even if Docent of Perfection  ^Flip isn't flipped, it is still a token-producing 5/4 flier that demands a response.

Hamster2558: Regarding Ceremonious Rejection: I realize Void Shatter has a wider range of targets, but in my local meta there are many decks playing Smuggler's Copter and other powerful Artifacts so Ceremonious Rejection has been great. Nevertheless, I try it out and put the other two Void Shatters mainboard and see how it goes.

Mortem Thank you for the suggestion. I have to disagree about Torrential Gearhulk, especially when considering it's pricetag. I do not feel like any of the Instants in this deck are so powerful that they can bring my back from behind or create an immediate win condition. Noxious Gearhulk destroys a creature upon entering the battlefield which the Instant from Torrential Gearhulk is also most likely do, however the life gain Noxious Gearhulk gives and it's evasion have proven to be very relevant in my playtesting. Torrential Gearhulk is powerful, but not at $15 in my opinion. If the price comes down, I will consider it for the deck.

I really like the deck! Definitely understand the price point issue with the Torrential Gearhulks, but would be so good in here.

Have you considered adding (either MB or SB) Metallurgic Summonings? I could see adding 2X to the MB (perhaps cutting 1X each of Anticipate and Murder), or maybe having them in the SB. With the way this deck runs instants and sorceries, if you have a Thing in the Ice  ^Flip or two out early and a Metallurgic Summonings lands later, could add another strong set of pressure/win con? The only problem is of course all the Construct creatures would get wiped when you flip Thing depending on the timing of landing the Metallurgic Summonings, but might be worth the risk?

lctofu thanks for the comment. I have considered Metallurgic Summonings for the deck, but my dilemma is that if I cast it on turn 5, I have tapped out for a spell that doesn't immediately effect the battlefield. That leaves my opponent free to cast spells without consequence after I pass the turn. If I wait until turn 7 or 8 to cast it without tapping out, I'm not sure that I will be able to get as much value out of it. That being said, I am willing playtest it in the mainboard and see how it goes.

I think a couple Jace, Unraveler of Secrets would work well in this deck. Maybe in place of 1 or 2 of your other card draw routes since you don't use the energy from Glimmer of Genius and Anticipate is just okay. Or if you would rather have removal than bounce you could go with Ob Nixilis Reignited instead.

You could find a place in sideboard for Dispel

I took this board state and revised it to taste. Murder copy I think may be better for competitive. A little more expensive, but not too much.

Why not use Demon of Dark Schemes? Just add Aether Hub if you choose this.

I'm sure if it's a no for now, at least reconsider it by Aether Revolt, as I'm sure there will be more cards relevant for energy that could have a place in this. On this topic, Confiscation Coup I feel could potentially work well in this, it could go to your sideboard.

bg88 thanks for the suggestions. This deck's first build included both Jace, Unraveler of Secrets and Ob Nixilis Reignited. During playtesting I often found that I was only able to activate one of their abilities once, maybe twice, before my opponents were able to get rid of them. It left me feeling like I wasn't able to get enough value out of them to justify spending 5 mana when I could spent 2 or 3 on other cards for the same effects at Instant speed.

i like the deck. my build is similar. i cut 2 anticipate and niblis , 1 ruinous path. i play torrential gearhulk and also 2 kalitas. liliana and jace in SB - its a good deck.

darleen Even if you use Jace or Obs +1 twice you gain card advantage. If the other player is using resources to remove Jace or Ob it could be a 4 card swing in your favor. Although, I get what you're saying about Plainswalkers not sticking to the board.