my try at a grixis control deck. the lands are a mess right now, I know.. just working with what i already own.

Slaughter Games is great and one the major reasons to be on grixis control right now over esper or dimir, but main boarding it is so risky. Frostburn Weird could be a good card for you in there somewhere too. It really helps with your aggro match up and gives you a chance of getting Thassa, God of the Sea online. If you do get any of the walkers in grixis the weirds are also really good at protecting them.

so sideboard Slaughter Games , and put in mainboard when? game two after I know what I am up against.. and know what I want removed?

Yes slaughter games comes out of the side board. If you have it in the main board game one you are going to be guessing too much. You want to use it on your opponents strong late stuff before they get to resolve it. You really can't profitably cast it on curve game 1.

Should I remove Steam Augury and replace with Opportunity ?

Throw in a Toil / Trouble and maybe a couple of Carnival Hellsteed for some good late game aggro...

right on ill check into all this.. isnt Evolving Wilds out of standard now though?

also if devotion to blue is a problem switch Thassa, God of the Sea for Purphoros, God of the Forge

I guess E wilds is out of standard now, but Shimmering Grotto and Unknown Shores are legal right now.

First off there are 2 types of Grixis decks being fine tuned right now: Sperfriends/Control and Midrange. Superfriends is built around the awesome planeswalkers Grixis has access to. Jace, Architect of Thought is the captain of the team and is pretty much an auto include in any deck that runs blue. Chandra, Pyromaster , Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver , and Ral Zarek are all game changers themselves. Midrange has AEtherling , Desecration Demon , Stormbreath Dragon , and Master of Cruelties to work with. Both archetypes are tier 2 decks and can be competitive at FNM but we haven't seen any brews place top 8 at any major tourneys yet. Also it should be noted that Grixis really cant be competitive on a budget, most of its key cards are expensive.

The early game is the same in both. You want to use Frostburn Weird to protect yourself and your removal (Anger of the Gods especially) to control the board. Turn 4+ start resolving your wincons and gaining card advantage.

Right now i looks as though your only wincon is Master of Cruelties . He is solid, I run him in my deck, but you might want a couple more reliable wincons.

1x AEtherling is a must. With enough mana he wins the game. Invincible and unblockable.

I highly suggest picking up 2-4x Jace, Architect of Thought . He slows down the opponents attack and provides solid card drawing.

+3x Dreadbore and -1x Turn / Burn -2x Lightning Strike

Cards that should be cut: Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius , Spellheart Chimera , and Transguild Promenade .

Inverted Crucifixion is my Grixis Superfriends/Control deck that is doing pretty well. Check it out for some ideas if you want. There are also a few other Grixis deck list floating around on the site that are relatively competitive (meaning tier 2).

thank you! awesome of you to lay it out for me like that.. I want competitive, but I wont be playing in any grand tourneys, and I love the grixis colors.. I don't mind working on this deck for a while to get it fine tuned..I own 1 Chandra and 1 ral zarek, I do want some jace aot. but being so expensive I haven't grabbed any yet..

I am reworking my lands, im on the trading forums trying to get the lands under control.. the promenades will be gone when I can get them replaced with shocks. I also own 2 aetherlings.tier 2 is great for me.. thanks again!

what about eros downfall instead of dreadbore? if im buying cards id rather buy the one that will be in standard for 2 years as opposed to one..just a thought

thanks again..

Well Dreadbore still has a year left in standard and you can pick up a playset for $12. Hero's Downfall is going for around $15 a card right now, the price should drop eventually. I personally would get Dreadbore now and wait for Hero's Downfall to come down to a more reasonable price. Really the only difference is that Hero's Downfall can be played on your opponents turn or in response to a spell/abbility and can kill Master of Waves and Obzedat, Ghost Council . Dreadbore while being BR is no more difficult to cast in a three color deck than BB1 and we want to hit 2 red mana sources turn 3 for Anger of the Gods and Frostburn Weird most games any ways.

In the end I would grab a playset of both. Both are good cards and it depends on the deck and meta which is better. It is also a good bet that they will be reprinted in future sets.

Lol, its got the old art for Watery Grave , also try to run Nivix Cyclops rather than Frostburn Weird and splash a couple copies of Dynacharge

Although it makes me feel kind of sick to help bring another Grixis deck into existence, I'll offer some advice.

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I think you should pick up at least three Nightveil Specter . He's got a good body for a 3 costing flyer, and most importantly he can steal your opponent's lands, which is some of the best control you can get on a card.

Doom Blade . You are playing grixis control, right? You only really need about six creatures in the deck, even against heavy creature decks. What you really need in your sideboard are more kill cards. Toss in a full playset of Doom Blade.

I'd drop the two Lightning Strike for two more Rakdos's Return . You don't need cheap damage cards because you aren't playing a fast paced creature deck. You are going to have the lands to use it, because you are going to make creature decks pull to a complete stop with your kill and counter spells.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by creatures, take out the four Steam Augury for the four Doom Blade you should put in your sideboard.

Lastly, I'd like to suggest Underworld Cerberus over Master of Cruelties. He's really freaking nasty when backed up by a ton of counter and kill spells.

Feel free to implement some of these suggestions, or completely ignore them. I don't play Grixis, but when I get my ass handed to me by it, it's by Grixis control decks using the cards I suggested.

Oh, and Thassa really needs to go. Toss in Omenspeaker if you want scry, it's a great 1/3 body all game for when you need to stall a turn to top deck a kill spell.

excellent, ill consider everything! thassa, right now is there for the scry yes, but also to make master of cruelties unblockable. that seems more useful than a 1/3 body that scrys once? I could be wrong. i dont know?

the doom blades.. definately! and i love to get my hands on some cerebrus'! wow..

I haven't seen Master of Cruelties at work, so I can't really comment on that. But Thassa only being a one of, I'm just not sure how many times that combo is going to go off.

If you get her, that's great, even without Master. Scrying every turn before the draw is huge. Maybe take out Chandra and put in a second Thassa, so it's more consistent?

Underworld Cerberus has no place in a control deck, it is strictly a curve topper for aggro decks.

Doom Blade is outclassed by Hero's Downfall and Dreadbore . Mono-black is probably the #1 deck right now at FNM and it is useless against it.

Omenspeaker is okay but dies to Anger of the Gods , Fleecemane Lion , and many other 2-3 drops.

2x Rakdos's Return is usually the max anyone runs as it is match up and situation dependent.

Nivix Cyclops and Dynacharge are trash. They never see any competitive play.

Nightveil Specter is good in blue or black devotion decks and not grixis control.

Just a heads up.

Rasta_Viking29 with all due respect, you don't really know what you are talking about.

Underworld Cerberus is absolutely amazing in Grixis control. Your opponent never has more than 1 or two creatures on the board at the best, or your deck is malfunctioning. He's just as much of a clock as Aetherling.

Doom Blade is a fantastic card, and no, it isn't strictly outclassed by Dreadbore as Dreadbore is not instant. Just because mono black is "the most popular" on average doesn't mean at all that other decks aren't being played that you might need instant removal for.

Omenspeaker isn't meant to be a strong presence. She's meant to filter your deck so you have an answer the next turn if you need it, and chump block.

Rakdos's Return is fine as a two of, that I agree with.

Nightveil Specter is an amazing card in grixis control. You are high. You have all the control needed to keep it alive and make sure it gets though, and it has the possibility to land starve your opponent.

I will also agree that Nivix Cyclops and Dynacharge are pretty bad, especially here.

kyuuri117 I play Grixis control competitivly... Scour professional tournament lists for Grixis decks to see what the pros are playing and how they are doing... I don't know or you don't?

We play Grixis for its removal and card advantage. Why the hell would a Grixis player work so hard using their removal spells and counters to put the oponents creatures into the graveyard only to play a Underworld Cerberus , have it Dreadbore 'd or Devour Flesh 'd and the oponent get all of his or her's creatures back? Why? It makes no sense. No control player with any experience would play Underworld Cerberus .

I love the card. It was one of the cards I was most excited for with the release of THS. , I built a deck around it. But it was for Rakdos Aggro decks. Decks where you attack recklessly and fill up your graveyard with aggressive, fast, but fragile creatures. Then you drop the Cerberus and using the superior removal black and red has and try to make it unblockable. If it dies then you get your whole game back to throw at them again. It's a nightmare for control players.

Did you learn anything? You admit you are not a Grixis Control player... I am. I am trying to help the new Grixis player out from experience, don't confuse him.

Doom Blade is to narrow. Control deck have to answer a wide range of threats to be competitive, dead cards in the hand = dead control player. The #1 removal card for Grixis is Far / Away . Forcing the opponent to sacrifice gets around Hexproof, Protection, Indestructible, and anything else you can think of. Far helps you get the creature you want sacrificed gone and also provides tempo advantage. Hero's Downfall is #2, Dreadbore is #3 but fits into Grixis's mana base and curve better.

Nightveil Specter once again gets hit by Anger of the Gods . I can understand how you think the card might be good for Grixis control but its not. First off the curve and mana base again, it doesn't fit. Sweepers, all control decks have to have em. Grixis's is Anger of the Gods and it kills the specter.

Omenspeaker is not worth my time.

I guess that does make sense. But still, with two Dissolve, two Syncopate, four far // away, and three turn // burn, he has enough ways to make sure the Cerberus is never sent to the grave. I guess I just prefer to play with big creatures with little downside if you have the cards to protect it. But yes , if you want to be completely sure nothing comes back, don't use it.

kyuuri117 I am not trying to be a dick and am sorry if I am coming off as one. Just trying to help the guy out.

dreadbore x3 on order.. ill update the deck here now.I appreciate your help guys! keep it coming!

tryng to trade for 2x jace architect as well