I think you gotta make some cuts for more land if you wanna go the control route. A minimum of 24.

@bhrusson0 I was thinking of more lands, but since it's not running white as well, I miss out on a lot of the powerful draw cards coughsphinx'srevelationscough. What would you recommend dropping to fit in more lands?

That's a little tricky to judge, and will likely take some experimenting. I haven't used any Dragon Maze cards yet so I can't give a super informed opinion on a lot of them. You are pretty heavy on your 2 drops so maybe start looking there? Staff of Nin or Jace, Architect of Thought are both options for pretty good card draw.

+2 Jace, Architect of Thought and +4 of total lands. Including a few basics to keep myself from getting Ghost'd. Took out some creatures that didn't fit and modified the spells to better fit a non-aggro style. Any comments on the changes?

Definitely looks a lot better I think!

Changed my sideboard by removing 4x Duskmantle Seer and adding in +1 AEtherize Dimir Charm and then 2x Rakdos Charm . Then fixed the main-deck a little, removing 1x Slaughter Games and 1x of something else, I don't remember, for +2x Snapcaster Mage . Now comes the difficulty of finding Snapcasters for trade without selling my soul.

+1!

I like your ideas here. I'm also brewing a Grixis deck centered on AEtherling, check it out if you want another take on it (also: I would appreciate feedback!): RUB my AEtherling.

Your card advantage doesn't seem optimal to me: why Pilfered Plans and not Think Twice - what does making them mill 2 do for you? It's also sorcery speed vs. instant. Personally I'd rock Think Twice because it's instant, so you have mana to respond or Think Twice on their turn, and you have that Jace, Architect of Thought and Staff of Nin to keep you going through the midrange.

You're a bit light on control for my tastes. You can clear some creatures, but can you protect your own at all? Can you protect your walkers? I obviously haven't played with DGM cards yet, but Reap Intellect to me seems like a waste: it's at a minimum 4 mana more than Duress for the same effect. Worth it to drop all your mana on turn 6 to peek at their hand to remove 2? Your call. I'm on the fence with Uncovered Clues - great to get to peek into your deck to stack your hand, but I'm always concerned with seeing an AEtherling or other staple non-cantrip cards and having to put it on the bottom of my deck. Your call though!

I like Pilfered Plans because if it's another control-sort of deck it can potentially thrash their entire plan by removing even a single key card. And watching a mana-starved opponent drop a couple of lands is immensely satisfying. It just gives slightly more utility than Think Twice. My PWs can be defended with the instants if need-be, but they are honestly expendable. As long as my AEtherlings stay alive, I can stay alive and well for long enough to pull a win.

Reap Intellect is used because it's 4+X to exile a card from their hand PLUS all cards with the same name, and you can include creatures. Dropping that gets rid of some really nasty creatures from hand. Reap Intellect for 2? See a Thragtusk and Resto Angel? Yeah, they are ALL gone. Removing 8 cards (if they run 4 of each, and they will) for the cost of 6 mana? That's damn good.

And I've had a few problems with Uncovered Clues myself. I'm thinking of taking those out for a couple flying defenders, if possible, to give myself some better creature defense. Thanks for the insight! (:

Yeah, I see what you're saying with Pilfered Plans - to each their own.

I wasn't reading Reap Intellect right and for whatever reason was skipping the "search the library and exile" too. That's a very nice 2 of. Now that I'm reading it right it seems like a must for decks running B/U in the current meta, whether side of main board.

Vampire Nighthawk is one of my favorite cards, he's just SO good imo. If you're looking for flying defense he comes highly recommended between deathtouch and lifelink.

Picked up all but 2 cards (Damn Snapcasters) and tested the deck out (I borrowed a pair of Snapcasters) and hit a DM tournament with what everybody pulled (got everything I needed in one way or another). Ended up not running Pilfered Plans and putting in 2 Izzet Staticaster . Then took out one Mizzium Mortars and an AEtherling for 2 Counterflux . Opinions on the changes?

Looks really good! Not sure if this is worth doing, but an idea is to run Cyclonic Rift for either just early game tempo or a late game stall out at their end step overloaded followed by a big Reap Intellect to cripple their deck. That might be a little too cute though.

Whether you do that or not, I feel like there's better options than Izzet Staticaster ? It can be tricky though. Not sure what the meta will look like.

I, too, think Izzet Staticaster could come out for something better and I've also never been a big fan of Bane Alley Broker . Counterflux is a nice spell but one I would be hesitant to run given its RUU cost - your mana fixing is pretty solid though so that's a preferential thing. What about Augur of Bolas or Uncovered Clues for a little card advantage? I recently made a big overhaul to my Grixis build and shaved some creatures to go spell heavy and really leverage Uncovered Clues - threw Increasing Ambition in there to help bring AEtherling out. Take a look! I keep coming to your deck for contrast on my own Grixis build.

@bhrusson0 If what my FNM were like is any idea of the upcoming meta, it was (as I guessed) quite a lot of populate, so Izzet Staticaster saw a lot of play. I'll think about the Cyclonic Rift . It seems like a pretty solid late-game overload. Maybe Staticasters will come out. I'll find out this week at FNM! Thanks for the input again!

@alulien As before, Staticaster is there for my current FNM answer to the mass populate I've seen last weekend. Bane Alley is a nice card to me owing to the fact it's a continuous draw effect. The exile part isn't that big of a deal to me, all things considered. If I exile something, it's because I don't need it right now. I shouldn't need it 2 turns from now, either. d:

Not running Uncovered Clues thanks to the Bane Alleys actually. Augur of Bolas is a really solid 2 drop, but since it's only 3 cards it can be pretty dead from time to time (with 25 lands and such). Increasing Ambition is a really nice idea. I'll try that out soon!

Current changes I've made is -1 Ral Zarek and -2 Duress for +2 Reverberate and now trying +1 Increasing Ambition instead of the +3 Reverberates.

I see, Staticaster makes a lot of sense then. If tokens are problematic then Illness in the Ranks might be worth a looksie.

I'm not really sure what recommendations I might have - it seems like you've got a good mix of spot removal and a little control to fit your personal style. Have you considered Turn / Burn or Far / Away ?

I ran Far / Away for a little bit, but took it out. For the same price as Away I can Tragic Slip + Reverberate, and while Far is nice, I could just run Cyclonic Rift and have the addition of an Overload cost for a more powerful effect.

As for Staticaster, I like her since she also serves as a 0/3 defender. Block your attacks and wipe your creatures at the same time. Illness isn't bad either, though. Hurm. Going to have to do some testing today or tomorrow to test this stuff out.

One thing to be mindful of with Cyclonic Rift is that it cannot be used defensively, while Far or Unsummon can be. Nice to be able to get another use out of Snapcaster Mage etb effect, for example. Illness in the Ranks just ruins your day if you're running a populate deck, especially since it's just 1 mana.

Going to keep making changes. Never thought of using Far / Away on my snapcasters. Definitely opens that up to being more useful. Illness will be sideboarded and Staticasters are getting taken out for two Far / Away . Also chopping one Reaping Intellect for another Increasing Ambition and adding in a 3rd Slaughter Games without removing, putting the deck to 61 cards.

Changes: -2 Izzet Staticaster (still my favorite card, though) -1 Reap Intellect +1 Increasing Ambition +2 Far / Away and +1 Slaughter Games .

I would love to see an updated version of this deck...your last comment has you adding Slaughter Games , but its not updated to your deck. Man this deck looks like it owns!! I play a RTR constructed deck very similar to this on MTGO, and wouldn't need to buy many cards to make it a true standard format deck. I would definitely run this deck in the standard format on MTGO if you updated to your current deck, just so I could see the difference. Great job, +1 from me to you.

I'll update this as soon as I get home. Sorry! I've been in the process of moving.

Updated just for you SumIdiot. This is the current build I've been using. Topped FNM (top 4 out of 36) every week for the past 6 times I've visited, twice I've made 1st. Works really well versus the current format. Give it a spin. (:

To those that are just coming in, Slaughter Games was removed then readded at 2, Rakdos's Return was increased to 2 and AEtherling was dropped to 1. Bonfire of the Damned was removed with a Tragic Slip and Jace, Architect of Thought was added at two, bringing the deck to 60 total. Have fun!