Sorry, Bond of Agony doesn't work like that. The X life that you pay is equal to the X mana that you spend to cast it. You choose a value for X when you cast Bond of Agony , then you pay [X][B] mana and also pay X life. For example, if you choose to make X 3, then you will pay [3][B] mana and 3 life, and each oppont will lose 3 life. It would be an incredible card otherwise, I wish it worked that way. From the Gatherer:

15/04/2013 - You must pay both X life and XB. For example, if you want each other player to lose 2 life when Bond of Agony resolves, you must pay 2B an

you must pay 2B and 2 life.* Sorry, Gatherer quote got cut off.

Oh man! I guess that makes more sense. Thanks for the heads up before I tried to play it the wrong way!

I love all the combos that are still possible without Bond of Agony , great job! My only suggestion now would be to develop a sideboard. Check out mtgtop8.com to see what decks are competing at the big Modern tournaments, then choose sideboard options that work against the best decks or choose some universally defensive cards that will protect your win-cons.

Oh, and +1, nice deck!

Cool! Thanks, I'll check out that site. You're right, I definitely need to develop a strong sideboard. And thanks again for clearing up my confusion over [X]...