Instead of Disperse maybe you could run Cyclonic Rift . It's the same cost but you can overload it late game for a sort of board wipe.

Good suggestion. I was holding off on Cyclonic Rift because its a bit costly, but it offers huge value for its cost and I can still fit under a $30 budget with a playset.

Out: 3x Disperse -> In: 3x Cyclonic Rift

Glad I could help!

No Bident of Thassa ?

I could include Bident of Thassa , but I'd have to change the strategy a bit. Mainly I would need to take out walls and throw in Cloudfin Raptor s and Judge's Familiar s. Right now I really only have four creatures in the deck capable of swinging past blockers. Do you think the Bident of Thassa route would be a better option? If so, where do you think I could fit it in?

I like the Bident, but you need to throw in Thassa, God of the Sea as well as the Bident. Thassa ensures that you get a beter draw and hitting her devotion will not be a problem.

I have found an answer to any damage dealing problems you are having: 2x Aqueous Form . Pairs with Prognostic Sphinx well as you can scry 4 and deal 3 damage to your opponent. It should work, take out 1x Negate and 1x Nullify .

I would love to have Thassa, God of the Sea in this deck, but she's just too expensive to meet the deck's budget goal (can't go over $30) so I can't really include her.

Aqueous Form works well with Prognostic Sphinx and can ensure I get the damage in, but it's incompatible with AEtherling , since blinking him destroys the aura. I won't dismiss the idea though! Let me "maybeboard" it for now. I am going to try a variation of this deck with the following:

Out: 1x Negate 1x Nullify 2x Hover Barrier 1x Omenspeaker -> In: 2x Aqueous Form 3x Judge's Familiar .

I will give this variation some test runs and get back to you.

Okay, so I tried the Aqueous Form variant in 6 matches. I won 3 and lost 3. The main problem here is that often the Aqueous Form just sits useless in my hand while I wait for something like Prognostic Sphinx or Judge's Familiar , and Omenspeaker needs to remain untapped as a blocker. I find myself wishing that the Aqueous Form was a counter-spell instead.

For now, I am reverting back to the original deck and putting Aqueous Form in the maybeboard. I will revisit the card later on.

Swap Inspiration for Divination !!!

The original version of this deck actually did have Divination instead of Inspiration . Here is the problem: Divination is a sorcery, not an instant.

This is why Inspiration is worth the one more mana it takes to cast:

-Let's say it's turn four and I have a divination in my hand, and about three other counter spells like Nullify , Negate and Dissolve . Once I commit to using Divination for my 2-card draw, I lose the option to respond to the opponent's spells with these counter spells, and that is a definite no-no!

Even later in the game, if I can help it, I want to spend as little mana as possible on my turn. This is key in getting this control deck to run properly. I have a few spells like Claustrophobia and Domestication that I can use for the early-game creatures that get through, but other than that, I'm relying on having an open mana pool for the opponent's turn.

Inspiration , on the other hand, lets me wait for the opponent to make a move, see what they do, use my counter spells if I have to, and then when the chance comes, I can use Inspiration at the end of THEIR turn and get 2 card draw without any risk!

I've used both of these cards in many matchups, and Inspiration has just flat-out beaten Divination in terms of utility.

Thank you very much for your suggestion though! If I ever find myself needing more card draw, I will consider things like Divination and Opportunity .

Divination is a sorcery, seriously downgrading it's effect.

+1 from me! I love this deck idea, budget and kick-ass!

Just had a few questions and suggestions. Feel free to ignore :)

Are you playing in the tournament practice room on MTGO? Only reason I ask is because I have played with some bizarro-brew decks in "just for fun" and kicked ass, and then I was like "yes! I have broken Magic once and for all! I am god!" and then moved on to the tournament practice room and, not surprisingly, been destroyed. If you are playing in the tournement practice room and getting results like that then that is awesome!

Another thing I was wondering, are you finding yourself mana-screwed? 22 lands feels low for a deck that is trying to leave mana open for countermagic.. I was thinking you would need 2-4 more, though I'm not sure what you would cut. I could be wrong, since you are having success and I havent played with the deck myself. Do you get Aetherling out very often?

Lastly, are you playing Inspiration because it is instant speed? Quicken could be good for cheap card draw, even though you won't use its ability, one mana for a card at instant speed is pretty good.

Anyways, those were some thoughts I had. Regardless, I like what your doing with this deck and hope it continues to kick some ass!

Thanks for the +1!

I have been playing in "Just for Fun"...now that you mention it, I should test this in "Tournament Practice" before I can REALLY claim it's competitive. I'll give the "Tournament Practice" lobby a shot for a few days and report back to you. I hope I don't get destroyed! :)

Actually, there have been a few games I had AEtherling sitting dry in my hand waiting for mana, though in those games it didn't really matter anyway because Prognostic Sphinx was carrying the weight. I'll see if I can nudge two more lands in there. Definitely agree with your point that the lands aren't meeting the mana curve very well.

Quicken is a brilliant idea! My only concern there is that with Quicken , I'm not really getting any extra cards because it's just replacing itself for one mana (as you said, I currently don't have any sorceries to complement it properly). Inspiration costs four mana (not cheap!) but it does give an extra card in your hand.

From there I thought, maybe Quicken + Divination ? The problem there is that I would now be using two cards to get the same benefit as one:

Quicken + Divination = 4 mana, two cards out of my hand, three back in

Inspiration = 4 mana, one card out of my hand, two back in

Let's think on this card draw thing a bit...Quicken may just be the solution, but we may need to combine it with something to make it really work.

You could always drop AEtherling for another threat, if adding more land will be too tough. The benefit to "cantripping" with Quicken is that it is (almost) like playing with a 59 card deck, since it replaces itself for just one mana. the idea being it helps you dig for cards faster. Or as you said with Divination you can leave counterspell mana up and then burn thru 3 more cards. That one is a little more dicey since you are relying on two cards to be in your hand at the same time. There is always Opportunity , 4 cards at instant speed, but then you run into the same mana issues as AEtherling . I think a balance of card draw/scry and increased land count will help tremendously. Also, I think you should run 4 Domestication if you find it is your main win-con.

Also, definitely try the deck out in "tournament practice". It can be sadly sobering. I was kicking ass with my You Take My Life But I'll Take Yours Too in the casual room (at one point was something ridiculous like 25-4), then went into tournament and got mercilessly destroyed. Brace yourself!! :P

Okay, trying this:

Out:

2x AEtherize (Moved to maybeboard because Cyclonic Rift and Ratchet Bomb already do their jobs quite well.

2x Hover Barrier (Moved to sideboard as an option against flyers)

2x Inspiration (Moved to maybeboard to make way for Quicken

In:

1x Island (up to 24 now)

3x Quicken (giving 3 of it a try for now)

Woops, forgot to add:

Out: 1x Negate -> In: 1x Domestication

I'd prefer to keep AEtherling in the deck, mainly because:

a. He's a total and complete badass

b. Every game I manage to pull him in, either the opponent concedes immediately or I win within the next few turns.

c. He's a total and complete BADASS.

I've made the mana adjustments to help him out :)

Reasons A and B are very compelling :)

Well, then you should run 4x AEtherling , rising chances of him to appear in your opening hand or on your next draw.

Blustersquall could be useful too!

I also like the re-tooled deck, let me know how it does!

I disagree with running 4x AEtherling , only because you don't want to draw two or three in your opening hand. You probably don't want to draw one in your opening hand, to be honest, since you won't be able to do anything with him until turn 7 (leave a mana open to keep him alive). Between Omenspeaker , Prognostic Sphinx and Quicken (or whatever draw spells you use) you should be able to dig for AEtherling and/or Island s well enough to only need 2 in the deck and still be able to cast him turn 7 (more likely turn 8 or 9). Just my two cents.

4 AEtherling is a bit dangerous as it is, in actuality, a 7 drop, and running 4 decreases my chances of having useful cards in general when I need them. I would agree with fadetoblack1183 on this one.

Blustersquall hmm....I like the card, and I run it in my Izzet Cyclops deck Izzet Burst Bomber, but since I'm already running Claustrophobia and Domestication here, I don't think controlling the board is a huge issue for the deck.

Tell you what, I'll maybeboard it for now. :)

Hmmm....Quicken just isn't working out. Turns out it's much better to have an extra card (even for that extra mana) than just a cantrip. I think I will actually give Opportunity a try for a little while as well.

Perplexing Chimera ends up dying to removal most of the time, and is too slow to be effective when I really need him. I think I will swap this guy out and my Wall of Frost for 4x Vortex Elemental , an interesting control creature I hadn't even considered before.

24 islands also is a bit much, I think. 11 matches of playtesting (in Tournament Practice mode on MTGO) and I found myself often having more lands than I wanted. Could have just been bad luck, but let's try 23 lands for now.

Results:

Out: 3x Quicken , 2x Perplexing Chimera , 2x Wall of Frost , 1x Island .

In: 4x Vortex Elemental , 2x Opportunity , 2x Inspiration