Rise/Fall is seriously one of the best cards ever.printed for a deck like this

I overlooked that card, but why is it so good?

It's very versatile. It can either make a player discard 2 at random or retrieve fallen snapcasters or whatever while bouncing things. There's also Sedraxis Specter if you're into that

Sedraxis Specter isn't really what I want this deck to do. I know I want discard, but I'm looking for more noncreature spells than creatures.

Olivia Voldaren is another very strong win condition alongside Keranos, God of Storms . A playset of Snapcaster Mage is basically necessary for a deck with so many useful instants. More Creeping Tar Pit s though, as they are a much more stable way to win.

I actually have to advise against playing so many big spells. Two Cruel Ultimatum is enough, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a less powerful card for more mana. If you want, you could play a split of the two, but you really only need two big finishers so you can devote more slots to answers.

When you can afford them, fetchlands like Scalding Tarn are good at making your manabase more consistent, and allow you to play fewer shocklands and play things like Tectonic Edge . River of Tears is another good option to consider that works well with fetches, but you can still play it anyway.

I think you should try playing a few discard spells (maybe 3-4) in the maindeck, just because they are key to disrupting combo and you have the mana. When it comes to the removal suite, Dismember and Slaughter Pact are two strong spells you are missing. A couple of Damnation will be helpful when you can afford them.

Of course, Cryptic Command when you can get it.

Waste Not ? you could run a mix between modern 8-rack and cruel control, I've seen a few lists that do that be pretty nasty.

thispersonisagenius I recently finished my playset of Snapcaster Mage by getting two more. I just thought that three seemed to be enough. I do know that I need Creeping Tar Pit , which I plan to get two more of later. I felt like two Cruel Ultimatum would be enough. During playtests, I found that Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker didn't actually do anything productive for me at 8 mana. I'm thinking of adding another Grave Titan for the deck. I'm hoping that the fetchlands get a reprint soon, but I plan to make this deck better over time, so I'm in no rush for them. I used to have a playset of River of Tears , but I sold them because I never really liked how they played. I have some Slaughter Pact laying around in my binder, so I'll try them out as well. Personally, I'm not a fan of Dismember or Slaughter Pact . What's your opinion on Rune Snag and Mana Leak ? I find that by turn 5 or so, they are pretty much useless and just dead draws. I would use Damnation but my only copy is in an EDH deck, and I hate proxying cards.

HorrorAvengers: I thought about Waste Not but it seems too gimmicky. I will definitely playtest with it though.

Slaughter Pact and Dismember are the third and fourth best removal spells you can be playing in your colors. You already run the first, second and fifth.

Grave Titan shouldn't be in the deck IMO, because the other win conditions are more stable and powerful. Batterskull is a strong alternative.

I personally am not a fan of Rune Snag , because you need to play four to make it good. You can try cutting that, Blightning , Rakdos's Return and Nicol Bolas (to summarize, the worst cards) to fit in more answers. Shadow of Doubt is a sweet one-of to try, as it screws fetchlands and Scapeshift .

I would cut Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker , but I built the deck around him or something like that. I included Grave Titan because I don't have a Batterskull , but I will replace him with it when I can pick one up. I thought about cutting Rakdos's Return . Would the Thoughtseize just go from the sideboard to the mainboard to replace that and the Rune Snag ? I'll try to find room for Slaughter Pact and Dismember . How many of each would you recommend playing? I'm thinking 1 Slaughter Pact but I'm not sure about the Dismember .

I think you can safely run 2-3 Thoughtseize in your maindeck (maybe Inquisition of Kozilek ), and have the rest ready for combo matchups.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is by far the worst of your win conditions, so it frees up an extra answer slot if you cut him. In the long run, I think it's better.

When you get a set of Cryptic Command , those would probably replace Blightning and Rakdos's Return while the Thoughtseize s can replace Rune Snag and maybe Consume the Meek . I highly recommend at least three Spell Snare , as it counters everything in Rock and a bunch of other very relevant cards.

I feel that two Dismember and one Slaughter Pact is a fine configuration, but obviously if you feel either one performs very well play more.

So this is what I have now. I still have Thoughtseize in the maindeck. What would be the next cards to remove? I'm guessing it would be Rakdos's Return or Blightning . I'm hoping that a better and more playable Bolas is printed in Khans. Would replacing one Swamp with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth do anything for the deck? Or would it be safer to run the swamp because Blood Moon is a thing.

You can safely cut either a Swamp or a Mountain for an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth . I wouldn't be worried about Blood Moon because even if you know it's there, you can fetch basics but you will likely still lose the game when it hits play.

I think you can swap out 3 Blightning for 3 Thoughtseize or 2 Rakdos's Return for 2 Thoughtseize , and I feel the optimum configuration would actually be 3 Thoughtseize 2 Inquisition of Kozilek . Blightning is a strong card, and you can definitely play it however.

All right, thanks. I think I'm gonna go with the 2 Thoughtseize and 3 Blightning just because that's what I have at the moment, and I can acquire the Inquisition of Kozilek at some point if I need to, unless Duress can work, but I doubt that.

Duress can certainly be an interim option if you play against a lot of low-creature count decks like various control decks, Tron and Scapeshift .

Unfortunately I'm not sure of the meta in my area, but I'm going to adjust the sideboard accordingly. Would Shadow of Doubt be a viable sideboard card for just a general tournament, per se? Also, should I take out the two Thoughtseize from the sideboard to free up more space or leave them in there against combo decks? I'm thinking of just leaving them in there and siding in all 4 against combo decks and taking out the Cruel Ultimatum when need be.

Blightning and thoughtseize should not be in there, its a good card but not for a control deck. I would play a couple mystical teachings in there with some cards that go along with it (here is my mystical teachings deck for some ideas http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-08-14-esper-teachings/ ). and no cryptic command? that card is value city! olivia, grave titan/batterskul and keranos should be sideboarded for grindy decks you do not want to play against combo and have those cards in hand cause they make you tap out. the amount of burn, snapcaster mage, creeping tar pit (btw get these there insane!) and cruel ultimatum should just win you the game on its own.

Blightning and Thoughtseize have helped a lot, especially against combo decks. When I'm not playing against combo, they help control the opponent's hand. I know Mystical Teachings is good, but that's not what this deck wants to do. I don't have Cryptic Command at the moment because I can't afford it, but I plan on getting some in the future. I'm only a 17 year old kid. I like Olivia Voldaren as a mana sinker for pinging creatures. I'm going to replace Grave Titan with Batterskull when I can get my hands on one. I do like Keranos, God of Storms simply because each first draw becomes value; he allows me to bolt a creature/my opponent or draw another card if I reveal a land, which has helped me tremendously in my playtests.

okay I get why blightning and thoughtseizes are good but in a control deck?... makes you tap out all the time and in a control deck you don't want to do that. if I were you i would get rid of them and play more counterspells (which is good against combo decks). the cryptic situation is understandable they were annoying for me to get too! and I am not saying olivia batterskull or keranos are bad, they are insanely good!!! but you just don't want them in against some decks which is why they should be sideboarded. they serve as extra win conditions that you just don't need mainboard. Its like tempo twin they have their combo game 1 but against more grindy match ups (jund UWR etc) they take their combo out and put in batterskull and keranos. thats what I think you should do here also

+1 btw! still like the deck even though we disagree on a few cards :)

This is a very solid deck. This can really stand it's own against Meieria-Pod if nothing else. It is really well put together.I am also happy you use Cruel Ultimatum as a finisher!

Hey, thanks both of you! I haven't been able to play this deck yet because I don't have all the cards. Just need 1 more Blightning , 2 Dismember , and the Keranos, God of Storms then I'll try to find time over the weekend to play it. I also need 2 more Surgical Extraction and 1 Anger of the Gods for the sideboard, then the deck will be complete. Cruel Ultimatum is what pretty much inspired this deck. Also the fact that I had the rest of the cards just kind of laying around.

You may want to get some Hero's Downfall and mainboard 2 or maybe 3 depending on your local meta. They're a very solid kill spell for modern and standard so always great to have around! By the way, +1 Love the deck and may build it with my own variations soon.

In the modern format, I would argue that Inquisition of Kozilek is better than Thoughtseize (mainboard anyway). In my Grixis Control List (Ha! Cruel Ultimatum!), I run 4 Inquisition mainboard and 3 Thoughtseize sideboard.

There are things that are very relevant that it doesn't take. Birthing Pod , Splinter Twin , Cryptic Command , Past in Flames and Scapeshift come to mind, but there are definitely others. There's a reason BGx mains 3 of each. Why do you think Inquisition of Kozilek should be maindecked without Thoughtseize also there?

The main reason why I don't run Inquisition of Kozilek is because I don't have any, and Thoughtseize does the same thing basically, so I haven't really bothered with getting them. Similar to what thispersonisagenius said, Thoughtseize can get rid of valuable cards/combo pieces.