Trust me cruel ultimatum is very hard to play at my shop nearly impossible.

Don't get me wrong i love grixis but the low end curve is better and wiping the grave with tormods crypt. Ashiok, veil and drownyard over cruel ultimatim

How do you handle manaramp into Emrakul?

I've never played against that kind of deck before nor have I heard of it. It's likely I've seen it before. ColdHeartedSith, Cruel Ultimatum Is the devil's win condition and milling isn't exactly what I want to do with this deck.

Well, nobody handles emrakul ;). Unless u can tap it or have o-ring. I feel that u will have a hard time against decks that can handle ur win cons main deck and/or very fast aggro (affinity/zoo/rg-aggro) and this (and fukin delver) r the decks that see a lot of play in the current meta , so yea ur deck might b kinda bad in the current meta, but not unplayable in any means.

My deck has played against Delver a couple times and did rather well against it. Damnation and Anger of the Gods were pretty helpful. I haven't played against Affinity, but the sideboard can help with that matchup with the splash for white. I'm not quite sure about Zoo. T

Affinity is a hard match up against control. Warwage helps, Shattering Spree is useful, Shatterstorm and Hurkyl's Recall are all good in the match up.

I had Shatterstorm in here originally but Hurkyl's Recall is able to be cast for only two mana at instant speed. I'm not too sure about Shattering Spree, and I don't have any on me at the moment, but I'll have to play around with it in the playtesting.

@naterino Generally speaking, Affinity is rather easy for control if you built correctly. Electrolyze is a total beating against the deck, Lightning Bolt is obviously very strong, and Spell Snare is honestly your best card. Grixis also has discard spells, allowing you to take away a Cranial Plating or some such. Hate cards in the sideboard are good, though, and I think what NoPantsParade has is pretty strong, if unorthodox.

1) I LOVE THAT SONG ITS MIY FAVORITE! =1 2) who said that? imma kill 'em!

Who ever said cruel control was unplayable???

Also, this deck is not 4 color.

Its not unplayable but it was rather greedy before the release of the ONS-fetchies.The manabase was kinda shaky and therefore the deck lacked consistency.Also cruel/grixis is just not on the same power level as comparable decks like junk or uwr. The deck is good against most of the control and maybe combo matchups but gets rekt by most aggro, tempo or midrange decks (besides affinity) like geist, delver or zoo (especially). Therefore cruel brews r kinda out of the meta with these decks being played really often but it is still a fairly competitive deck.

@FAMOUSWATERMELON There's a Godless Shrine for Kataki, War's Wage and Stony Silence in the sideboard.

2 things. How good is cruel control competitive wise? interested in building it.

and have you thought about adding EE mainboard along with a singleton academy ruins?

I haven't played this deck at the competitive level, like at a tournament or anything. I'm preparing for the GP Charlotte in June 2015, however. At my local store and online, it has done well against various decks. Surprisingly, it has been beaten Delver. But those wins were off lucky top decks, I suppose. Cruel Control is pretty rogue, but it is definitely an up and coming deck, I think. I would ask others as well about building Cruel Control. You can probably take the deck in different directions. And no, I don't play Academy Ruins because I only play one artifact and it isn't worth the colorless mana at that point. That's why I don't play Tectonic Edge. Also, what is EE? I'm probably drawing a blank on that.

Engineered Explosives. Academy Ruins makes it really good. I'd definitely find room for it in the sideboard.

Engineered Explosives i think could be used in the sideboard! Really love the deck, you must be very experienced, since the construction and the cards fit perfectly together! I came to vote and also, i think that a Tamiyo, the Moon Sage would maybe fit in the deck quite well, but, i probably havent played modern as long as you probably have so im guessing that you have some better ideas! But she is super good and she really slows down your opponent like crazy! It would be an honour too have you visit one of my decks, also a Grixis cruel control, go check it out!!! :) Its kinda different but i hope you enjoy it! Love this deck!

Hey, thanks, gnizz00! I appreciate the feedback! I am trying to find room for Engineered Explosives as well as Academy Ruins. Unfortunately, I traded both in for a Vendilion Clique, thinking I wouldn't need them. So, I'll have to get my hands on both of them again. While Tamiyo, the Moon Sage does slow down an opponent, she costs 5, and at that point, she isn't worth it. She's just too slow for modern, I think, in a competitive environment.

I think it's safe to cut a Cruel Ultimatum for another cheap removal spell. Resolving one will very likely win you the game, and alongside Batterskull and four Tar Pits I don't think you need more than one copy. You're not playing Slaughter Pact or Dismember, so I'd try to fit a copy of one of those into the main instead.

i would take out a Creeping Tar Pit 4 seems a little excessive as having more than one will cause you significant tempo disadvantage and some Bloodstained Mire for Scalding Tarn if you can afford it. Having access to an untapped basic island is much more valuable than a basic swamp, as it allows you to cast your spell snare turn one and other countermagic on time. Also, i feel like the white splash for artifact hate isn't completely needed given that you already have access to a host of artifact hosers in Shatterstorm Shattering Spree Hurkyl's Recall Rakdos Charm and i'm sure plenty of others

kingofcramers: The 4 Creeping Tar Pits have actually proven useful. I had three in the list at one point, but I needed 4 so that I could actually push through damage and whatnot. I haven't noticed a significant tempo loss. Unfortunately, Scalding Tarn is too expensive for me at the moment. However, since there are rumors floating around, I plan to pick up 2 or just getting a playset for the deck. I like the white splash because it not only gives the deck cool points but I like the utility. Shatterstorm is a turn 4 play, and I'll likely be dead against Affinity. Shattering Spree is just too saturated with red for my liking, and Rakdos Charm is already in here.

GlistenerAgent: I've been considering cutting a Cruel Ultimatum for a quite a long time in favor of another removal spell. Personally, I don't like Slaughter Pact, but at the same time it can kill things in case I'm tapped out or something. I'll probably put one back in there and see how it goes.

Yay, another player who's trying to play cruel control. Personally I would run more than 1 Cruel Ultimatum, I would suggest pulling the Batterskull as It's just a 5 mana 4/4 vigilance lifelink that you can bounce for 3, kinda a poor fit for the deck. I feel as though you may want to have a Damnation or 2 mainboard, as it's very solid against token spam and hexproof, 2 things that tends to wreck control. Not a huge Fan of Slaughter Pact, as it has to be a non black creature, and the upkeep cost is 3. I also can't help but notice that you only have 5 spells that give you card advantage, 2x Dig Through Time, and 2x Remand and 3x Electrolyze. You may want to add a Serum Visions or 4.+1 from me, Also I would love it if you could take a look at my Cruel Control Deck Cruelty and give me some advice.

@SirSchmoopy111

"It's just a 5 mana 4/4 vigilance lifelink that you can bounce for 3"

Yep, yep and yep. It's an unkillable creature that will win the game eventually. It's incredible at stabilizing against aggressive decks if you're able to get it into play, and the other wincons are not nearly as resilient.

I feel that the real value of Slaughter Pact is being able to cast multiple spells. You can cast Cryptic Command to counter a spell, cast a Batterskull or whatever, and still have a removal spell should you need it. The upkeep cost can be annoying, but the surprise combined with efficiency is very worth it.

Serum Visions does not really belong in a hard control shell in Modern. The issue is that you need as many cards as possible to interact with the gamestate, as your opponents will always be throwing things at you and you need to be ready. I feel that the current suite of card advantage is pretty strong, though I may find room for a third Dig and a fourth Electrolyze.

@GlistenerAgent

I suppose that Batterskull is an extremely good card, I probably should have led with the fact that the only 3 modern decks I've seen in play are a R/U Delver, R/G Tron, and W/R/B/G KikkiPod. I haven't actually seen any of these cards in play. I can see how digging for 2 cards out of seven is better than scrying through 2, and drawing 1.