-3 Essence Backlash

-4 Steam Augury

-4 Guttersnipe

+2 Chandra, Pyromaster

+3 Underworld Connections

+3 Doom Blade

+3 Anger of the Gods

You run very low on removal and draw. Steam Augury is not a very good source of draw because they see the cards, and you always lose the one you want. At best you draw 3 subpar cards. Doom Blade and Anger of the Gods both stomp all over aggro and other creature based decks. Guttersnipe doesn't help a ton so I feel removing it could be good.

All around great list though. +1

Thanks for the ideas. I don't like Chandra because jace is such a better planeswalker. Underworld Connections is a great idea. As well as the Anger of the Gods and Doom Blade . I am also reluctant to remove Essence Backlash and Guttersnipe because of the burn capabilities. Is Steam Augury that bad? I thought it was a reasonable draw engine.

Yes, I'm afraid it is bad. Essence Backlash is a four mana counterspell that only hits creatures, even if it adds burn. I don't like it but feel free to keep it in

Essence Backlash barely made my cut, I'll probably swapp it for Essence Scatter instead. still debating on Steam Augury though whil it isn't great it usually comes down to my opponents either giving me a stormbreath or a demon.

I don't know if one Lightning Strike in the main board is worth having in there. A singleton of any card is almost not worth having in there, as the chance of drawing that is astronomical...1/53 (or 1/52 outside your first draw hand). You might think about popping that out for something else, say another Anger of the Gods or if you have access to him, Jace, Architect of Thought . That will increase your chances of getting those heavy hitters, and remove the 'chaff' from the deck.

Just a thought from a fellow payer.

Well where do I start...

1. Play at least 2 Thoughtseize in the mainboard. The card is too good to not run it main, period.
2. Why not play Rakdos's Return ? It gives you a lot of reach and the possibility to keep up with other control decks, especially the ones that run Sphinx's Revelation
3. You play way too many creatures. You're a control deck and not some Izzet-Burn-Mix-With-Black-Splash-Midrange-Control-Mash-up. I'd recommend: 1 AEtherling , 2 Stormbreath Dragon , 4 Desecration Demon , maybe you can try out Master of Cruelties but with all the evasive creatures running around, maybe that's not a good idea..
4. Play at least 2 Far / Away in your maindboard. There is no need to always play it for 5. I more often than not used it to timewalk my opponent. It's basically your Azorius Charm .
5. Cut the Steam Augury and play 4 Jace, Architect of Thought instead. Letting your opponent chose is just bad. Sadly (or luckily) it's not FoF.
6. Play some Syncopate and cut 1 or 2 Dissolve
7. Bident is a dead card in your deck most of the times. Even with your creature base. Instead use either Read the Bones (for more reach) or Divination (less reach but also no life to pay).
8. Maybe you can think about 1 Ral Zarek and 1 or 2 Mizzium Mortars main.

Recommendation:

Creatures: 1 Aetherling, 3 Stormbreath, 4 Desecration Demon

Sorcery: 2-3 Thouhgtseize, 3 Anger of the Gods, 3 Divination, 1-2 Mizzium Mortars (maybe some Dreadbore), 1-2 Rakdos's Return

Enchantments: 2-3 UC

Planeswalker: 4 Jace, Architect

Instant: 3-4 Hero's Downfall, 2 Dissolve, 2 Syncopate, 2-3 Far/Away, 1-2 Cyclonic Rift, 1-2 Turn Burn

Lands:
your landbase is ok. Maybe add 1 of both Izzet and Rakdos Guildgate.

Thank you for the advice, another Anger of the Gods is a good possibility. Any good instant speed spell I could use?

Thank you for the advice Putrefy. Lots of things to consider. I had completely forgotten about rakdos return and Thoughtsieze. I would however still like to keep the amount of creatures up. As they are the main win condition. The problem I have with using cards like Read the Bones and Thoughtsieze is I have no way to gain life and I end up digging myself my own grave. I like Dissolve over Syncopate for the scry ability and I find no need for Turn / Burn due to the amount of removal in this deck. I was debating on taking out Bident of Thassa and thanks to your advice it will be removed. Ill probably lower the amount of Steam Augury as well. Thanks for all your help improvements will be made.

This deck is SCREAMING to be mana screwed... you have 6x 3-drops that require 1BB, 3x 3-drops that require 1RR, and 4x 3-drops that require 1UU... on top of that, you only have 13 red sources, 14 black sources and 15 blue sources. I would HIGHLY recommend replacing 1-3 Dissolve with Syncopate , 1-2 Hero's Downfall with Dreadbore .

Underworld connections and thoughtseize are VERY weak in grixis control right now because you have no lifegain. I would replace the connections with Opportunity and Thoughtseize with Ratchet Bomb .

Thassa, God of the Sea doesn't really fit the deck unless you run Consuming Aberration . Who cares about paying 3 mana for a scry-1 every turn?

For now, that's all I'll say. Grixis has a lot of mana problems and lack of lifegain makes the deck hard to survive with in the late-game. I've been trying to force grixis for a while in standard with my deck,

but after performing poorly for several weeks in a row, I removed red from the deck altogether.

My current build is UB control with a lot more 3-4 ofs and it performed quite well at Grand Prix Albuquerque this past weekend.

deck-large: the-new-meta

In the end, it's up to you if you want to try pushing grixis. I love the color combination, but it's a very inconsistent deck that may fall on its face from time-to-time.

Thank you! you just about saved me from horrific disaster. I completely overlooked the abundance of two mana symbol spells. Changes will be made. I love the color combination and will push it for standard even if it will fall on it's face. Seriously though your help is GREATLY appreciated.

Spellheart Chimera Thassa, God of the Sea Steam Augury and Underworld Connections (underworld is a sb card here) are very weak cards in a deck like this, i suggest adding 3 Divination 3 Mizzium Mortars , Underworld Connections should be side board i a deck that doesn't take advantage of the devotion, you have 2 spots to work with i suggest putting Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver there or Essence Scatter

There really isn't a reason to run 2 Divination here when you can just increase your count of Jace, Architect of Thought other than cash. Syncopate, although nice early, becomes a huge mana sink quickly. Try running Dissolve in it's place and see how it does. I'm also not sold on Essence Scatter .

Syncopate really isn't as great as it used to be. i'd drop all of them and add in 2 more Dissolve and 1 more Lightning Strike

also do you have a budget for this? otherwise Hero's Downfall is way better than Far / Away imo. keep at it. i think depending on born of the gods grixis has a real place in standard. my very first fnm deck was a grixis midrange and i loved it. here's what i have now: Welcome to new grixis

also +1 for grixis players

Anyone think Ral Zarek would be a good addition to this deck?

i still don't know how i feel about poor ral. for the "planeswalker of thunderstorms" he's kinda... bad. i really feel like Chandra, Pyromaster is everything Ral Zarek wishes he could be.

a good point, but i dont think either of them will be as successful as i want them to be.

you have to remember that after initially playing chandra you can "0" her every turn to effectively draw a card. if it's a land you can hit land for that turn. if it's a spell you'll have at least 4 land probably more to cast it with. sure you'll be showing your opponent your counterspell but hell then they probably won't play anything lol. the card advantage she affords you is small but powerful

yeah but i can only play it this turn, therefore losing some spells that would be useful in the late game. what about Counterflux or Magma Jet .

Why not add another Jace over Steam Augury ?

To be honest, the first thing that i see is ten 2 ofs in the deck and only 1 four of. To me, that equals problem. Since Dissolve is better than Essence Scatter , i would drop one of the scatter for a Dissolve . I know that Dreadbore is cheaper than Hero's Downfall , but downfall is an instant, which means a lot for a control deck. More Far / Away wouldn't be to bad either. So, -3 Dreadbore , +2 Hero's Downfall and +1 Far / Away . Also, Thoughtseize is an amazing card, you should definitely get four foil lorwyn signed by the artist Thoughtseize and show them off (just kidding). anyways, do get Thoughtseize for this deck, it can come in for some of the counterspells and Magma Jet . I hope that helped your deck become better and more satisfying to play with. Sorry for not noticing it earlier.

I found throughout playtests that Thoughtseize kills me quite a bit.

how about 1 teeny weeny Thoughtseize ? If not, then how about Duress ?

Im gonna playtest tonight and if I feel like I'm missing out on something then that will be the first thing i add. Otherwise though what do you think of the deck overall?

I feel like 3x rakdos's return is too many, Id cut that to 2x. having it in your opening hand or even your first few turns, your not going to be able to get good use out of it. but say your run into it turn 4 or 5, it will be worth casting by then. and I agree with Droxium, thoughtseize or duress would be good here.

overall, the deck is fine though i feel as though Jace, Memory Adept has a place in the side.