A suggestion Id look into is adding more counter spells and possibly dropping the gifted aetherborn. They die to harness and abrade all the time against temur/mono red. Confiscation coup is a thing that temur decks run as well, targeting either gearhulk or Scarab God...Ive played scarab plenty of times just to have it taken...even with a counter in hand temur wins out bc they know to hold them for that reason...

Also, fatal push is a card you should use as well. Against temur, gift, or mono red, when we are on the draw we dont really have anything for their turn 2 play...tapping out on our turn 2 to deal with their turn 2 isnt ideal in a control deck. Having a push ready to go at the end of their turn 2, freeing up our mana turn 2 to deal with their turn 3 play imo is much more valuable.

Dayyyuuuumm, talk about a set where we didn't get much love! They are REALLY pushing for a heavy creature meta. Well! It's not like we were missing many tools or anything though. How about you guys? Did something out of the full spoiler catch your eye? I think the main question we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we want to try to bank on Ascend or not...seems like a big stretch for us and would only matter in grindy match-ups, so I'm very lukewarm on it...

Induced Amnesia looks pretty sweet, but we would have close to no way to destroy it and redraw

I'm probably going to give Tetzimoc, Primal Death a try.

Vona's Hunger is the kind of Ascend card I would give a try since it's ok playable as is but SUPERB if Ascend is on.

Angrath, the Flame-Chained looks deece, but I don't think I will go out of my way at all to tap-out 5 for this...I don't think I will even give him a try.

Azor's Gateway looks pretty good, I will most likely give it a try. Sculpting hand is always good for us, so is shitons of mana.

For defense, I kind of really really like Gleaming Barrier. Two generic mana for 4 defense is already playable. The little Treasure bonus is neat too.

The Immortal Sun seems pretty good, but again...if we are in a heavy creature meta, which is VERY LIKELY, we almost never will have the time to drop it!...

Finally, Crafty Cutpurse looks funny, but will be too corner case for us to really bank on it I think.

Yeah, not really exciting...literally NO good blue cards. Considering the very efficient core of cards we already have, I can't really be mad at this release, but it's definitely one of the weakest for us - if not THE weakest - we had since I started this 2.5 years ago. Alas, I will always wear my colors proud, BOLAS we got this!

Cheers!

Have you considered Nezahal, Primal Tide? Even for the sideboard at the very least maybe? I personally kind of like the card and maybe its a bit silly, but I think it has some neat synergy with Kefnet the Mindful.

Hmmm not sure man, looks like an EDH card to me...7-mana is a lot and having to pitch 3 cards to save it is another big cost.

I'd say its technically discarding 2 cards, since the removal is most likely gonna be a noncreature card.

Yeah, I just don't see how this would take a Blue Hulk or Scarab spot though, unless VS other control which are the least of our concerns.

I maybe should have added that I think it could be a good finisher after Torrential Gearhulk rotates of course.

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but might it not be better to change colours? Blue/white has a few nice things, for one.

Also, I think you're not giving the set the respect it deserves. While there aren't a lot of cards that are great for us, there are a few that I thought were interesting.

Blood sun also seems interesting, as a silver bullet.

Dire Fleet Poisoner is iffy, but can trade with any attacking creature bar Haz.

Obviously Vona's hunger is insane.

Reaver Ambush I think is better than it seems because of the Scarab God and embalm/eternalize cards (although it might still not be that great).

I also really like Golden Demise because it is so good against aggro. RDW and I am willing to bet there will be a white weenies deck as well.

Hornswaggle is actually also pretty good I think. Ramping out a gearhulk or scarab god a turn early can be backbreaking.

There's also shatter, which could be a decent sideboard card (It deals with gearhulks as well).

Mutiny seems very good as a 1-mana kill spell against aggro.

Dusk Legion Zealot replaces itself, although it does turn on opponents' removal.

Silent Gravestone is graveyard hate.

All this talk of hate leads me to my personal favourite card for grixis control this set: Mastermind's Aquisition.

However, I have to admit that most of the cards I am really excited about this expansion are in white: Azor; Elenda; Slaughter the Strong; Sphinx's Decree; Blazing Hope (because it's such an interesting card); and Baffling End.

eragon795 I can already tell u that this deck won't change colors, since its dedicated to Bolas xD And while control did get some good cards, not many of them are Grixis, seems to be pushing for Esper Control.

Some other cards I found interesting was Twilight Prophet, however this is more for the EXTREME late game, since u will need Ascend for it to be good.

Release to the Wind I think can possibly be good, with the amount of versatility it has making me want to play it.

Although Silent Gravestone is good, it stops your own The Scarab God, pretty much removing your own win con.

Overall, the set is good for control, but not really exciting for Grixis. You never know tho. Maybe Angrath, the Flame-Chained will break standard lol.

Illuminate21 You got that right! Grix could be the absolute worst combination in a format but I would still play nothing but that. The more I grind, the more I find out that there are always ways to be competitive or at least somewhat competitive, just finding the best 75 possible in our colors is what I play for. BOLAS!

I like the prophet too but without Ascend he's very unplayable. Then even if you Ascend, he has to live...you know that the 4-mana do nothing have to be insanely powerful to see play in our control shell, the last one that comes to mind is Kalitas!

I kind of like Rekindling Phoenix as a 4 drop. It takes two answers to get rid of, otherwise it just keeps coming back. I remember a "recurring" 4 cost card that used to end games for us that was pretty decent: Wandering Fumarole

Plus flying is pretty relevant. If they have to use a Glorybringer to kill a creature that is going to come back next turn, that feels pretty good for us.

It's funny because I look at all these cards we consider from RIX and there's literally no single card that I would swap right now lol...I think the meta will pretty much guide what we will run! I'm sure we will all test with Nezahal and Tetzimoc but it's not like they will greatly improve our deck or anything.

You don't have that many artifacts for Unlicensed Disintegration

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard/full#paper

According to MTG Goldfish, Grixis midrange is now the number one played deck in the meta. Congrats :) There's some variety too for what creatures to use and that sort of thing. Worth checking out I think.

I've been trying to comment for weeks but there was a bug on Tapped Out :/

darklord1135 We play Disintegration because it's the best kill spell in the format, the incidental artifact-matters thing is just a bonus which usually turns on when we recast with Hulk.

Noctem Yeah saw that!! That's awesome! Apart from the ''midrange'' thing haha. Let's see what the Pro Tour brings!

Wusup yall, anything to declare in the first weeks of testing? I did really minor changes and the deck still owns!;
Main: -1 Harsh +1 Glimmer
Side: -1 Doomfall +1 Vona's Hunger

Been facing a lot of opposing Scarabs (Grixis Energy) so I want 1 more Vraska in the main, and I just lost a few games to Angrath so I'm definitely giving him a try!

Main: -1 Disintegration, +1 Vraska
Side: -1 Vraska, +1 Angrath

AKSHUALLY, looks like Scarab/Pheonix/Chandra/Hazoret won't be leaving anytime soon so I'm getting more Vraska's and you should too before it shoots up to stupider price tag!...

Side: -1 Spell Swindle, +1 Vraska's

Have you seen the recent Dominaria spoilers? Anything worth watching out for?

Something I've come across people running lately is Fiery Cannonade, which is a sweeper that can be gearhulked. I know it misses some important cards, but I would suggest at least testing it.

doraemon1088, I like these;

Syncopate is always fun! Definitely will be running some.

Unwind Looks pretty fun, the split with Negate will be worth it.

Blink of an Eye will be convenient to ''deal with enchantments''.

Precognition Field will be very handy VS grindy/control matchups.

Yawgmoth's Wild Offering is looking hella sweet VS midrange!!

Cast Down will definitely have a slot or 2 in the removal suite.

Dark Bargain is very good and will surely one day replace Glimpse in some number.

Jaya Ballard I will definitely go a little of my way to have enough access to red mana to try her.

Jaya's Immolating Inferno will also surely finds it way as a 1 or 2-of.

Radiating Lightning is not looking that hot but perhaps necessary if there is enough targets for it.

Karn's +1 abilities are looking cool!

I love Gilded Lotus so much in EDH!! Probably gonna a test with a copy - is gonne be pretty insane with Voltaic Servant!..

Hey East, is that Magma Spray and not Magma Jet?