GoPatmyhead I'm not an expert on the deck but in my experience piloting the deck Emergence Zone isn't required because is meant to be more of a control deck than an early win deck and you try to stop your opponent from winning before trying to win on their turn. Underworld Breach is nice but won't work very well since we are exiling cards as part of the win-con. Thassa's Oracle is nice card if you have a lot of blue permanents but might not work in the deck because Jace is better almost every time. But they could flex slots or meta calls depending on how each person has built the deck. Sorry if I'm sounding condescending and mean. Other people might have different thoughts regarding the cards but this is just based off my experience with the deck

I considered the Thassa's Oracle cuz it has the "draw effect" built in already, so you can stack a suicide tutor to its ability trigger FTW. Thanks for the feedback D_Cruz8712

Would Wavebreak Hippocamp make the cut for card advanrage or not?

1. I don't think so - colourless lands are a bit painful. It can work though and is worth trying out to convince yourself one way or the other.
2. Underworld Breach is very exciting but sadly I don't think it's quite the powerhouse in this deck that it can be with more dedicated deckbuilding. It might still be good enough to be worth it, I'll likely try it out.
3. Initial thoughts are cutting Laboratory Maniac . Then again, Tainted Pact and especially Plunge into Darkness get a boost with all 3.

Thassa's Oracle is insane and is 100% core either way.

My variation is much more wheel heavy, with Narset as well as Notion Thief so I am super pumped for Underworld Breach.

Assuming Sheldon does the right thing as bans flash over this, holy hell on Thassa's Oracle. Labman was so frail, that Jace just felt like the far safer win con with TP/DC.

Thassa's Oracle could work with Doomsday or in a blue heavy mill deck.

With the new set Theros Beyond Death release will you be adding Thassa's Oracle in place of Laboratory Maniac?

Why do you play Reanimate over Unearth? Reanimate just gives you the option to also recur Notion Thief, while not being able to cycle this card away. I think Unearth would be stronger?

I swapped Unearth for Reanimate after we got Thassa's Oracle and getting the extra draw became even less important than it did when we picked up Jace, Wielder of Mysteries because it's otherwise a better version of the effect. I have run Reanimate in the past before Thassa's Oracle in metas when I thought I would get more value from it than from Unearth - there's not a huge difference and it's not really a core slot.

Reanimate also lets you target other people's graveyards. The life loss is worth it when can some fun things (I targeted a Gilded Drake from someone, and swapped it with a Yidris.

What cards are considered part of the core aside from the Consultation and Labman effects?

You don't even need to go into the accordions to find the link to the core list. Take a few seconds to read the first few sentences under the list, and maybe give the primer itself a skim - you may find some of your questions have already been answered!

Awesome deck and a blast to play!

I've been playing Consultation Kess and Grixis Twin Kess and Bonus Round Kess for the last few years. I think that the release of Oracle makes this deck extremely well positioned in the meta, as it can abuse Consultation lines better than other decks and grinds value. I don't think its quite tier 0 with TnT Fish Hulk and Fish Hulk Najeela, but I think it gained significantly from the Oracle printing, more than other tier 1 decks and I think it will emerge at the top of the meta if Flash is banned. Oracle is faster, and being able to use Consultation/Pact in response to the winning trigger from Oracle makes the combo attempt much safer should you eat a counterspell at some point in the process. The speed of Oracle also lets you race much better than before if you deem that to be the best gameplan. Not requiring a third card to "draw a card" also helps the combo to fire smoothly and from starting spots that don't include a cantrip.

Great list! If you had to cut timetwister, imperial seal, and the og dual lands, what would you replace them with?

Why steal enchantment, this a card I keep seeing but not sure I understand 100% what it is useful for. Thanks!

Steal Enchantment is relatively fresh spice but it has been testing well. The rationale is that 2cmc value engines are at a premium and establishing one early is something we really want to do. So does everyone else, so there are almost always good targets. Stealing someone else's value engine early is a huge swing and if you're lucky enough to snag something with a higher cmc like a Rhystic Study or, Gods willing, Smothering Tithe it's amazing.

Redshift_cEDH, what do you think about Underworld Breach in this deck?

Underworld Breach is hot. I'm pretty sure Wedge has it in his current Mind's Desire take on Kess. I intend to try it.

How do you feel about Winds of Rebuke in place of Into the Roil?

Great option

Hi Redshift_cEDH, I've been really investigating and testing Underworld Breach and the card is very good.

First, it has supplanted Yawgmoth's Will in every single top 8 vintage deck. Yawgwill was considered one of the cornerstones of Vintage, and I consider this replacement to be a big deal.

Its 1 mana cheaper to cast than yawgwill. It allows you to cast the same spell multiple times if you wish. It can serve as a cheaper and faster way of using the GY to use a single forbidden tutor twice instead of relying on Kess to complete that line. It digs as deep as you have mana when paired with Wheel of Fortune or Windfall (if someone has 7). I've even seen people exploring Wheel + LED + Underworld as a secondary winning line ending with Oracle (especially in Breya decks where Smothering Tithe is an option). I think this card is extremely good, and could potentially spawn another offshoot Kess build focused on exploiting these high independent value cards that can oopsie into a combo together. This deck could definitely run both Breach and Yawgwill, but don't sleep on the card. It turns mana into winning.

With flash banned are there any day 0 changes you would make?

Honestly no

Thank you, I didn't expect there was. Nothing felt out of place without flash hulk.

I've been struggling on what to do with two cards in your list. Mox diamond and timetwister. The easy one timetwister - so far I like winds of change but wondered if you had an argument for why I should use dark deal?

The harder one - Mox diamond. I have tried the B/R talisman, jeweled amulet, and izzet signet. Jeweled can lead to some good turn 2 or turn 3 but gets worse as the game goes on. I didn't like not having blue from the talisman and izzet signet is so-so. Thoughts? Thank you!