The only card I have really no clue why you run is Dimir Charm over something like Negate . In which situation would you use the other options of the spell, mainly the look at the top 3 cards.

I've used the destroy power 2 or less a ton. It kills a ton of creatures. I've also used it to draw into a land if I really need one and I've dictated the opponents draw a few times. Making them draw a land when they need something different is a lot of fun.

@Bytme:

Dimir Charm is HUGE in the current meta game. It's a two mana removal spell that can kill 24/28 of monoblue's creatures, along with a Mutavault . Against monoblack it kills Pack Rat , Mutavault , Gray Merchant of Asphodel , Nightveil Specter AND it can counter a Thoughtseize or Duress . Against Midrange/control decks that also use Rakdos's Return it counters that as well. Not to mention you can seal your opponent's fate by giving them a land on top and ditching the other 2 cards to their graveyard. At the very least, you can dig for an answer out of your own deck

Congrats on 4th place!

The Grand Prix Tour I went to this weekend didn't work out so well for me. Running 26 lands in a deck and 4/5 rounds I got cut into one landers on BOTH of my opening 7 draws, and when I mulliganed down to 6 I always had 2 lands and a 2 drop removal spell without a scry land to dig with. Sometimes I would get a 3rd land, but not one that I wanted and it was certainly hard enough to get the double red or double black I needed. I ended up going 2-2-1 on the day, taking down a Monoblue, R/G midrange, and tied against a 4 color control deck. I lost to another monoblue and R/G Monsters deck

I event had such bad luck that I pulled out my Anger of the Gods against the R/G Monsters in favor of Doom Blade s and such, and he beats me with an opening of 3 x Elvish Mystic s and 1x Sylvan Caryatid swinging with the mystics and eventually getting 2x Stormbreath Dragon s and a Xenagos, The Reveler on board which I couldn't deal with all of them

Needless to say I don't WANT to go to 27 lands, but I'm thinking that's the only thing that I could have changed other than drop my Haunted Plate Mail s. They actually did ok against the control decks and when I was able to board wipe against certain decks and smack their planeswalker unblocked I loved it. Overall they didn't impress and I think I need to add another Jace, Architect of Thought and maybe another land or draw spell

Since we have alot of double colored mana spells (Anger of the Gods , Hero's Downfall , Dissolve ) it's EXTREMELY difficult to have the exact lands each time by turn 3. I'm starting to think that it won't be consistent enough if we keep it this way. I'm thinking of relying solely on U/B for removal/counterspells, and using red just for Rakdos's Return and other win cons like Stormbreath Dragon .

Running Jace, Memory Adept main helped me win a couple of my games, but I was actually able to win with AEtherling , Haunted Plate Mail , and stolen creatures

Another thought would be to drop the Hero's Downfall and put in a couple more counterspells so we can counter the planeswalkers/creatures instead of trying to kill them.

Yeah, I've thought about maybe doing 2 Negate and 1 Hero's Downfall.

I also think Swan Song is highly underrated.

I was thinking more along the lines of Essence Scatter . Here's my reasoning:

Blood Baron of Vizkopa , Gray Merchant of Asphodel , and any of the "gods" are problems for us to deal with and this allows us to deal with them BEFORE they are on the field.

We already have counterspells to deal with planeswalkers, and even IF they resolve we still have Rakdos's Return to empty their hand and redirect damage to the 'walker instead of the opponent thus "resetting" their field. You also have enough creatures to damage the walkers anyway.

I'm thinking that Journey Into Nyx is going to be better for "izzet" colors since we'll get the U/R scry land and HOPEFULLY some better removal so I can stay R/B primarily and splash blue for win cons/draws/counterspells. Esper works so well because it is primarily U/W splashing black for certain spot removal, Thoughtseize , and other win cons like Blood Baron of Vizkopa

I think Essence Scatter is good but I think Swan Song or Negate is needed to those pesky Underworld Connections, Bident of Thassa, Whip of Erebos, etc.

2/3 of those can be taken out via artifact removal which red excels at..but it would be nice if we had some enchantment removal in Grixis colors sigh

I'd rather just counter the enchantment than destroy it.

I agree, but with Swan Song they get a 2/2 bird out of it that you now have to deal with also. Better off to use a hard counter

I have nightveil specter. :) plus I can rift it with away and it dies. Swan song counters way to many cards not to play it. Trust me, you'll see. ;)

Oh I trust you...I just haven't seen anyone at any of the LGS' I play at use it.

What are your thoughts on Notion Thief in the sideboard to counter the draw from monoblack and control decks?

Yeah, neither have I but that's because there are better spells available. I just like that it is cheap and no one would think about it.

I've been quietly eyeing Notion Thief myself. It would help more vs Control when they tap out to use Revelation but it would also help against Mono Black, except they more ways to kill it. I think 2 in the SB would be a good idea to playtest.

I've seen Notion Thief in a number of high level decks, but they usually only include one in the SB. As for counters, the ones I see most often beside Dissolve are Negate and Gainsay , usually in the sideboard. My concern with Swan Song would be in matches against MUD. It can be difficult enough to hold off the swarm of flyers that they deploy. I wouldn't want to add to them.

I'm going to attempt to play Swan Song but I may end up going back to Negate or Essence Scatter.

Nice. I took 9th on game day with my budget grixis deck, My Scrappy Grixis Control Deck. I need to get my hands on some Jace, Architect of Thought .

This "may" help you with your mana in the early game. I put it in my RWB deck and it solved all kinds of problems. Traveler's Amulet. My opening hand was usually 2 Sacred Foundaries and a Swamp (no good for Hero's Downfall), 2 Godless Shrines and a Mountain (no good for Anger of the Gods) etc.. But adding just 2 Travelers Amulets stabilized everything. If the mana wasn't in my opening hand, the amulet was, I could get the mana by turn 3 about 80% of the time. Just a thought.

Thanks for the comment! I haven't run into any mana issues after going from 24 to 25, and I'm pretty happy with it atm. I don't really have any space to dedicate to a slow, but decent, artifact.

The problem with Traveler's Amulet is that you have to spend turn 1 casting it, turn 2 activating it, and by then your opponent has resolved 2 or 3 threats and you will be hard pressed to control the board state then.

If you have mana problems, Prophetic Prism would be better as it at least replaces itself with another card without having to wait for further activation. usually that line of play puts me too far behind against Gruul or Monoblue however, so I usually resort to playing a scry land or a shock land tapped on turn 1

I think you have a lot of great ideas, +1 from me.

I've seen similar problems with mana being the wrong color for so many double symbols. My solution so far has been Shimmering Grotto . It's a land, so it doesnt set me back a turn, and even when i don't need mana fixing i can still use it for the many colorless costs.

I'd appreciate if you can check out my list. It's a little more aggressive, but I've had some balancing issues and could use some help. Feed me Creatures! (Suggestions Appreciated)

Again, the problem with running a land like Shimmering Grotto is you have to spend a mana to turn it into another colored mana. You would still need a 4th land to cast your 3 drop double mana colored spells like Hero's Downfall

Taking this new build with Hypersonic Dragon to FNM! Pretty excited

I had thought about using Quicken along with the amount of sorcery spells I cast, so let me know how the dragon works out