Merciless Eviction might actually be a great card to mainboard a one-of with all the planeswalker control running around post-rotation. Plus, having an optional board sweep for a control deck never hurts, especially if you're falling behind an aggro/midrange deck that's moving a bit too fast to deal with. Also, Thoughtseize might be more worth your while so that you can snag an Obzedat, Ghost Council or the like before he even hits the board. If you're having trouble with the life loss from it, the only thing I can think of is maybe Whip of Erebos The lifelink is exceptional with so many big creatures, and since you lack a solid way to get card draw and advantage, the creature recursion would be a great way to get more value out of the cards you play. And a lifelink Desecration Demon that comes back next turn is a very, very dangerous thing.

Other than those small suggestions, it's a great deck! Looking forward to seeing it develop and, hopefully, smash face as time goes on. +1

I'm definitely considering the Whip of Erebos , especially in combination with Obzedat. But I still think I'm going to leave the Thoughtseize out. During the last fnm, I played against an orzhov midrange deck that had me down to two life. Had I played a Thoughtseize that game, I would have lost, but instead, my opponent witnessed one of the biggest comebacks that he had ever seen. From losing 2-20, the game ended 14-0 several turns later. I had already taken two life for a shock land, but that is much more necessary. Additionally, with all of the dangerous planeswalkers in standard, I find myself picking Elspeth or Chandra for them to discard over a creature, anyway. Thank you for the suggestions and +1. And any ideas for where to fit in the Whip would be great.

Assemble the Legion is really a mid to late play, that doesn't turn the board state to your favor all too often. Usually, unless you've cleared the board, you are using the tokens as chump blockers for the first few turns, but until turn 4 or 5, you aren't really building an army that can win you the game, you are just buying time. I do think there are better options than Assemble the Legion. Whip of Erebos for example.

As for Read the Bones, it's another one of those cards that does damage to you when you use it. Also, around turn 3 your ideal hand would be using the mana for Boros Reckoner or Removal. I think Magma Jet was the better choice for Scry. Drop the Read the Bones, pick up another Whip of Erebos, and remove the Lightning Strike for 2 more Magma Jet main board. No, it's not clearing the board, but it is Scrying. And if need be, you can use it as a combat trick to remove something (IE: attack do some damage to a creature, and use the Magma Jet to finish it off).

As to your choice of Duress vs Thoughtseize, it becomes a challenging debate. On the one hand, Duress removes pesky spells and enchants. Downside, it can't remove creatures. Upside though, you have enough removal that it shouldn't matter that much. Thoughtseize works early, and even mid game. The only time a Thoughtseize comes in handy late game is when they are holding a spell in their hand, otherwise, it is a wasted card. Ultimately, Thoughtseize becomes a little more bearable if you don't have to pay 2 life on a shock land, and then 2 more life on a Thoughtseize. Aside from making them toss a one drop, do you need Thoughtseize turn 1? In my opinion, no, you can drop the shock land tapped, wait a turn, then use the Thoughtseize and still remove a big threat without sacrificing 4 life, only 2.

As for mainboarding the Boros Charms, I would consider them to be interchangeable with Mizzium Mortars. The number of 4 drop threats is marginal. You have: Blood Baron, Loxodon Smiter, Stormbreath Dragon, Yoked Ox (Not a threat, but a nuisance), and I'm sure quite a few others. Most of these require 3-5 mana. As such, that leaves you 3-5 turns to draw some removal, and 1-3 additional turns of pummeling, to remove the threat. Boros Charm can play a double role, using Boros Charm to make High Priest indestructible, let him chump block, boom, he took damage and now you can destroy permanents your opponent controls. Same with Boros Reckoner, except, you reflect the damage done to him back at your opponents creatures. 4 damage to an opponent can be very relevant mid to late game, and finally, giving a creature double strike until EOT, especially if you have Aurelia out, is almost a guaranteed win. Both have their merits, but I do think that you can argue a case for both.

As for the 3rd Blood Baron. Don't mistake, I love, love, L-O-V-E my Orzhov colors/creatures. I ran 4 of them in a midrange Orzhov deck, and they are quite the nuisance. The reality of it is this though, having 4 in the deck, doesn't mean you will get 4 out. Out of 200+ games with that deck, only once did I ever have 3 of them out at the same time. Too much ramping is needed. Also, it starts to make it a predictable element to a deck that is suppose to be unpredictable. Instead of the Blood Baron, I propose adding a 3rd High Priest, or a 4th Boros Reckoner. Or maybe drop one of the Fatties (Like Archangel of Thune, just sayin') and add in 2 Soldier of the Pantheon. It's protection from Multicolor makes it an admirable threat, and it's life gain as a one drop can make up for some of the 2 damage for untapped shock lands (and Thoughtseize if you decide to put it back in).

Merciless Eviction, aside from a cool art card, and a late game board wiper, it isn't for this deck. If you played this on turn 6 to reset the board state, you are probably too far behind already, or you don't really need it because no one has any real board presence. Honestly, Anger of the Gods is cheaper,more effective, and hits hexproofers; plus if you have High Priest or Boros Reckoner on the field, you are getting more out of that spell.

Obviously, everything I proposed here is entirely dependent upon your local game shop and the players/decks there. The deck has great removal, variant win conditions which make sideboarding against the deck difficult to do, and the deck has pure moxie, it's a fun deck. To quote my gf about this deck: "This deck is a like a white girl on her period. It's super bitchy, and usually messy..." I hope this helps you moving forward. Again, I think this deck continues to be a great, competitive deck that kicks serious butt.

I built an almost identical deck, after several failed attempts to build a Grixis control/mill deck. The cards are there to make it work, but sadly, I can't seem to do it w/ only 60... and I tried! I'm a novice at MtG, but I did something different w/ my B/R/W control/midrange deck and it is working! I put in 2 Master of Cruelties and a couple Chandras. I use the removal to keep the field clear, or sweep w/ Anger of the Gods/MIzzium Mortars overload and then swing with the Master of Cruelty and +1 Chandra, bam, game over, even if they're at 100 life. It's a thing of beauty!!!

Assemble the Legion is great, in my opinion. It wouldn't be if it was a 1/1 creature, because then it could be easily removed. But as it is, it's an enchantment, and many people have trouble dealing with it. It also works especially well against control. I played an esper deck, and it was the reason that I won the first game. He was able to deal with all of my creatures, but once that was one the field, he was counting down how many turns he had left to kill me. He even used Supreme Verdict , but the next turn I popped out seven more.

I might get rid of Read the Bones because it's only a one of right now, but I do want to keep the Lightning Strike . Having the extra burn in the deck is a great way to finish out or kill their creatures early on. Especially after the last fnm, I need the burn in the deck. I'm even reconsidering bringing back Boros Charm .

As for the Thoughtseize , I might put it in the sideboard or put it in the mainboard as a one of for now, but I like Duress 's performance so far.

I did not add the third Blood Baron to see three on the field, I just added him to see a Blood Baron more often. Though I do love variation, if a creature is good enough, I might be required to mainboard three. However, I would very likely side one or even two out, depending on their colors.

I might look into adding another Stormbreath Dragon , but that is a $33 investment and I do want Whip of Erebos in here, but I'm still looking for its place. Feel free to suggest where you think I might add it.

My only issue with Assemble the Legion is that it is more situational than functional. Every color was given enchant removal with Theros, to deal with those pesky gods and bestow critters. My only concern is as a one of, it can get counter spelled entering the battlefield, or removed with enchant removal. Don't get me wrong, it is a wicked card, but since it is more situational, it suggest sideboard.

I love Lightning Strike over Magma Jet, but the reality of it is this, if you want more control over your draw (and with this deck being as varied as it is, you do want more draw control), Magma Jet takes precedence over Lightning Strike. If you can live without the draw control, then run 4 Strikes. Read the Bones is only nice because of the draw, but is it worth 2 life? Then you run into the same problem you had with the Thoughtseize. At one of though, Read the Bones isn't as bad.

With Duress and Thoughtseize, both have their merits, and Duress functions well if all you want to remove is spells and enchants. Duress and Thoughtseize need a mainboard/sideboard rotation. Duress is great for control decks while Thoughtseize is great for creature decks.

I wasn't suggesting that you put the 3rd Blood Baron in for the sake of seeing 3 on the battlefield. My concern is just that you end gambling with your 20 life trying to get to the point where you put Blood Baron down and attack/block to start regaining life. A smaller defensive creature can buy you an extra turn, or two, or three so you can get the Blood Barons out.

As for a 2nd Stormbreath Dragon, at $33-35, it's nice, but it's a $30 target. The moment you put that on the battlefield, they will destroy it. This is why you can't have nice things. I considered a second one myself, but investing $30 bucks in a target doesn't seem like the best idea. Truthfully, I would keep the 3rd Blood Baron over the Dragon as he dodges most removal spells.

As for the Whip of Erebos, the only thing you have an abundance of is Sorceries. Dropping 2 Dreadbore seems foolish, losing 2 Duress would hurt you to much, so it becomes a toss up between Mizzium Mortars and Rakdos's Return. Mortars only affect creatures, not players, and Rakdos's Return affect players and their hands. My vote by process of elimination would be trade out 2 Mizzium Mortars for 2 Whip of Erebos. Dropping a creature or two doesn't sit well with me because they are your win conditions, so I wouldn't sack the number of creatures you have now, it would only be counter-productive. And sacrificing instant speed removal is a bad proposition. So you are left with the Sorceries to consider.

It's nice to see a well built RBW, my only thing is have you considered Sin Collector for the sideboard?

@TheGodofNight I do want control over my draw, but to an extent. As of now, I have two Magma Jet , Read the Bones , and five scry lands that give me control over what I'm drawing. That is a total of eight cards, which means I should see at least one, if not two, per game. I'm alright with leaving out one or two more scry cards in order to keep a better burn spell. I don't want all of one or the other; the way it is gives me a nice mix. If I continue to play and feel that I need more control, then I'll change it up. I usually never go to fnm with the same exact deck twice.

The Duress vs. Thoughtseize debate will continue to rage on all over the place, but for now, I'll stick with Duress .

I do want to add Soldier of the Pantheon , but he is certainly not a one-of, and I'd like to see two or three in here, which makes it a much more difficult thing to add in.

Mizzium Mortars is good for several reasons, but the most important of those is that is kills Blood Baron of Vizkopa . I see a lot of him, and if I didn't have Mortars in here, he would be the end of me. The other great thing about it is, it can be a late game card. If I draw into it on turn ten, chances are that I'll have three red mana, and it can end up turning the board totally in my favor as a one sided sweeper. And this is where it becomes truly challenging to decide what to drop, even for one thing.

Thank you for your advice, you've given me a lot to consider, and please continue to add to the discussion.

@almerican I have considered Sin Collector , but I would most likely add in Thoughtseize to the sideboard before I add in him, although he's not a bad card, he's probably more for someone who is just plain old orzhov. With three colors, I have more options, such as Dreadbore , that take precedence, there is simply no room for him.

I like the deck a lot. one of my favorite color combos. my question is how Pithing Needle kills AEtherling as you said in the description. The text on pithing needle says: activated abilities cannot be activated unless they are mana abilities, which all of AEtherling 's abilities are. I still think it is a good SB choice but i dont think it handles aetherling well.

AEtherling 's abilities are not mana abilities. Elvish Mystic has a mana ability. A mana ability is something that provides you with mana, not that costs mana to use. AEtherling 's abilities are activated and stopped by Pithing Needle .

Pithing needle also works wonders against planeswalkers, because Grixis, Esper, and Mono Blue are rocking a serious number of planeswalkers; and they are popularly played decks as of recent.. On the subject of that, depending on your game shop, you may want to consider mainboarding them as a preventive measure if people there play anyone of the above mentioned decks.

So far, amazingly, I've only run into one control deck. I beat it first game and sided in the needle, which helped me trash it the second game. I'm expecting a great number more of mono blue decks though, so I may mainboard it depending on what I see this Friday.

well than you for the clarification, that makes Pithing Needle quite a bit better haha. nice, well thought out deck you have here. good luck to ya

Thank you sir

I've had a chance to tinker with this deck a bit further, and I'd like to report my findings.

My LGS current has about 7 or 8 control decks. Of them, I have fair decently against Esper. There are 2 Grixis Controls decks that I have not had the good fortune to face off with yet. On the subject of Control, I have mainboarded the Pithing Needles, just to save myself some time and headache in round one. As such, the sideboard and its many control measures seem to function extremely well. Running the Assemble the Legion turned out poorly twice, but again, with all of the control decks, it is understandable. Both times I had it and played it, it was canceled. I do not blame the Assemble the Legion, it was a victim of circumstance. I would like to test it out for another week and see how it does.

As for aggro decks, I squared off with a few R/B, R/G, and G/B decks. I did well with most of them, the exception being 1 Golgari aggro deck, but I think that was just a matter of "luck of the draw." I drew a fair hand, and he drew a perfect hand. Additionally worth noting, that Lotleth Trolls are a pain in the ass in the first few turns, eating up removal and regenerating repeatedly. I would like to play against that deck again before making any recommendations about modifying this deck.

I played a few flavor decks, one Simic Evolve, one Tribal Minotaurs, one Selesyna Tokens, and one Bant Hexproof. Of all of those, the only one that was challenging was the Bant Hexproof deck. I still had the Anger of the Gods in, but at a 2 of, and the same with the Mizzium Mortars, I was overrun by a little hexproofer Gladecover Scout that was rocking 4 Ethereal Armors. Suffice to say it was painful. I do consider that luck of the draw, but much of my removal was useless. Thankfully I managed to topdeck one victory and the other one they were mana flooded.

Overall, the deck performed admirably. I am currently running 2 Thoughtseizes and 1 Duress (still waiting on one), I am running 3 High Priest (Waiting on an Archangel of Thune), 2 Blood Barons, 1 Stormbreath Dragon (I would like to add another), and 4 Magma Jet, and finally, 2 Pithing Needles to make it a 62 card deck. I'm hoping that the pithing needles deterred some of the control decks for a bit, and I can drop them and go back to 60 cards. The deck while sometime tempermental, it is still very effective.

Thank you for your findings and insight. Like you said, I would imagine that bant hexproof is difficult to deal with. I actually have very few answers to hexproof. I could always add in some sacrifice spells in the sideboard if I find that it presents a big issue, but I have not encountered one of these decks yet, so I'll just chance it for now. As you mentioned, Lotleth Troll is quite a pain and you either remove him the turn he is played or have to wait for a Blood Baron. I have been so far lucky enough to remove him always the turn that he is played or kill him when they tap out the following turn or two, which is more than likely bound to happen. A sacrificing spell would also take care of him though, because you can;t regenerate sac'd creatures, so maybe I will consider adding Devour Flesh or something of the kind.

I think u should add Rakdos Charm, Frontline Medic, Gift of Orzhova and/or Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Rakdos Charm is not very good except maybe against aggro if they have a bunch of creatures, but I'd rather just kill those creatures with Anger of the Gods . Frontline Medic is no good here because I will rarely get his battalion effect, and in my three drop spot, he sure as hell is not replacing Boros Reckoner . I do not enchant my creatures, and unfortunately, Gift of Orzhova has no place in this deck. Rakdos, Lord of Riots is too color intensive, too situational, and simply not good enough when compared to Desecration Demon , who currently occupies the four drop spot. Thanks for the suggestions though and thanks for the +1!

Honestly, since I have been waiting on an Archangel of Thune, I was considering using Rakdos, Lord of Riots to fill the spot until I could put in Archangel. With 4 Magma Jets, or even a 1/1 High Priest, doing the damage to summon Rakdos isn't a problem, nor is having the mana to summon him. Essentially, it is almost the same mana as Desecration Demon. The plus side to Rakdos is that he would free up some mana for removal spells also allowing you to cast your team for less mana. I mean a 2 mana Blood Baron or Stormbreath Dragon sounds badass to be honest. And before rebuttal is offered, while it is true Obzedat and Aurelia are hardly phased by such a bonus, it does allow them both to be cast for 4 mana each. Really, the only distinct advantage that Rakdos has is that it gives you another flyer and trample. He won't die to Ultimate Price, Doom Blade, or Mizzium Mortars. If I decide to try him out, I'll let you know how he fairs.

Yes, please let me know how he does. I simply cannot see the total benefit in trying him out, with his somewhat limited casting requirement and questionable benefits. If he works for you, I may reconsider using him.

Very cool! +1

...and you've just passed 125. Here's number 126!

I really like this and it looks like a very strong deck.

Hey your deck is fairly similar to mine! Most of the deck looks strong but just wondering what aessmble the legion is for in your deck?

+1 from me :)

I am glad to see a control without blue. It is rare to see haha congrats :)