Oops... describing the issue improperly... but it still works the same...

To cast Shrapnel Blast you need to sacrifice an artifact at the time you cast it (Because of the wording "As an additional cost to cast..."). - You cannot sacrifice a spell on the stack.
As Scuttling Doom Engine is still a spell on the stack when you cast Shrapnel Blast it cannot be sacrificed.

...In fact, since you have no artifacts in your deck, you would not be able to cast any Shrapnel Blast unless you had previously used a Villainous Wealth to cast an Artifact from an opponents deck.

Rayenous -- Oh my goodness, I understand what you mean now, and you are indeed correct. The whole "an additional cost to cast" thing completely evaded my brain for some reason. Technically I can sacrifice my Bow of Nylea , but that seems suboptimal unless it'll kill them that turn. Thanks for the catch, as I might have tried to do that in a game and would have been SORELY disappointed.

I'm mostly assembled on this deck. I'd totally play it. One question- that Tagrim card have a place here?

Also, I don't want to spend 5 bucks per on Dig Through Time. What would be a more palatable budget option?

TheNinjaJesus-- I spent a decent amount of time testing with that card and unfortunately it just didn't really feel helpful at all.

Hmmm I don't know, it's a pretty powerful and unique addition. Something like Treasure Cruise or Jace's Ingenuity would work similarly.

Are sure that only 6 spot removals that hit everything are enough? At the moment you doesn't seem to have a real shot against any kind of more aggresive deck that utilizes cards like Mantis Rider , Fleecemane Lion or Butcher of the Horde . I would also highly recommend replacing Negate with Dissolve since the only really relevant non-creature spells against your deck are Walkers which don't come down that early.

I think that the concept here is to use Despise to force them to discard the indesctructos/enchantment creatures, and use the removal/board wipe for creatures you can take out with impunity. But that's why the sideboard does have Silence the Beliebers.

Hey Nigeltastic- I tested this out between rounds at FNM, and it did alright, but it's a touch too slow. I think what it lacks comes in two flavors- not enough tempo control in the early game (causing fails against aggro in Mardu and Jeskai flavors) and nothing for lifegain (Bow of Nylea wasn't helping stabilize in the late game against everyone). So I put in 3 Jace, the Living Guildpact . The choice between bounce and the Sultai Ascendancy effect was useful, and caused a win when I popped an ultimate in a game against the Jeskai aggro deck I faced, followed by a Villainous Wealth for 7. Likewise, I'd almost say that there should be a way to fill the graveyard a little more, because I was delving Murderous Cuts and having nothing left for Dig Through Time, or vice versa. So, in the interest of speeding up the way this thing locks down the battlefield, I'm going to sub out the Negates to the sideboard, and put in 4 Void Snare . I was considering putting in a single Thassa, God of the Sea to both scry before looking at your two top cards and ALSO drawing two, and fulfill the role of mini-Aetherling, being both unblockable, indestructible, and activated through a Jace and Dictate at the same time. Not sure what to do about faster/harder lifegain. Death Frenzy is too slow, but might work against aggro (so sideboard at most) and Feed the Clan is underwhelming, really. Instant speed is nice, though. At any rate, love it, and I'm going to run my own variant.

TheNinjaJesus -- I took the deck to FNM last night as well, and I agree, it's just a little bit off. It was close, you're right, and I noticed the weakness in both areas you did. It falls behind super aggro decks a little too hard, and the lifegain is just barely not enough.

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My thoughts on which cards felt weak or need adjustment currently:
-- Despise : Felt awful for 3/4 of the game, and was not where the deck wanted to be late game, as all of my opponents simply played their cards out and then I was full of sadness.
-- Sultai Ascendancy : I found myself drawing 2 copies of this far too often, so I think going down to 2x is a good idea. I also felt a touch land light, so I think I'll be putting in another Island .
-- Villainous Wealth : Against mid-range or superfriends opponents, this card is nuts. Against many other decks, it just sat in my hand and did nothing terribly useful. I am going to experiment replacing it with Grindclock as my win con to speed the deck up with less mana requirement. I think this still has a solid place in the sideboard, but that's about it.

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Cards I think I can benefit from:
-- Pharika's Cure : I think some snake oil is just the thing for this deck. The two lifegain seems super relevant, it helps against aggro some pre-board, and post-board it can finish off things of toughness between 2 and 4 after a Drown in Sorrow .
-- Grindclock : This guy will just get there faster and easier than Villainous Wealth . I usually find myself milling my opponent out anyway, so I might as well drop some pretense and just commit to the mill plan.
-- Silence the Believers : So this might solve the problem with too much graveyard hogging, as when I brought this card in from the 'board it felt super sweet. Sure it cost 7 to exile 2 guys, but it didn't compete with the graveyard, and if it's too slow in a matchup, moving some Murderous Cut to the sideboard to bring back in should help. I'm going to update the deck with my current changes, and I'd love to hear what you think afterwards.

Dissolve over Dissipate ?

primalhunted -- It's a consideration, just depends on whether exiling things or scrying is more relevant or valued higher. Usually this deck wants to be filtering most draws anyway, so the extra scry is less valuable in my opinion than the possiblity to exile somethings like Bloodsoaked Champion . It's a relatively small difference, so I think either works.

Nigeltastic- Someone I play with at my LGS saw my deck and thought it was capable, but desperately needed creatures to stabilize and keep the pressure on the opponent, so we played around with the idea and came up with this-

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It performs pretty darn well.

TheNinjaJesus -- It looks quite good. I very much like all of the creatures you've chosen, they're all super strong and good fits. If I find my build is inconsistent or struggling, that's definitely something I'll take queues from, thanks for sharing!

Nice deck, seems clunky though, but control mill decks always do. Would you give you your 2 cents on my deck

TheNinjaJesus -- I've done some heavy updating now, creature do seem (sadly) necessary.

Yeah, for now, it seems, creatureless control is somewhat of a pipe dream. One of my fellow players at a LGS and I discussed the relative merits of such a build, and the general consensus is that such a build loses so much mitigation of damage and has so few ways to counteract the life loss that does happen, you're always working at a disadvantage. The best build we cooked up was a mono green shell with Nykthos, Voyaging Satyrs, Arbor Colossi, Karametra's Acolytes, Hornet Queen and Nest (one apiece), Life's Legacy, Three counter spells, two kill spells, one Kruphix, and 4 Villainous Wealth, and the goal is to fire Wealth for 20 to 30 mana.

Jeskai Ascendancy may not be long for this world, but you may need to have answers for some of the key cards. Unravel the Aether , Naturalize , Annul , Swan Song , etc.

I feel as if you have too many CIPT lands. Llanowar Wastes , Yavimaya Coast if you're trying to keep it from getting too expensive with fetches. And Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth . So, less temples for important turn 3 plays, either on your turn or theirs.

I know it's 2cmc more, but with the long game in mind and 25 lands you may want to consider Prophet of Kruphix instead of Horizon Chimera . Being able to flash in a Sagu Mauler would be hilarious, not to mention always having untapped mana available for the 8 counter spells you have in the deck.

just my 2 cents.

I like the deck too so +1

Be careful with Dictate of Kruphix -- it's Turbo effect draws your opponent into answers as readily as it does you. Maybe play some hand destruction to counteract that?

Whelming Wave vs AEtherspouts ?Aether may be one more, but it seems a far better answer.

CharlesMandore the reasoning is that AEtherspouts only work on things they're attacking with, while the wave gets everything.

You know, if you're running black, you need to run the poop out of Murderous Cut . Its the most broken card out of the most recent set right now for removal.

Courser of Kruphix will also help you speed up your game, avoiding land draws where possible, and you should also run more fetch lands like Polluted Delta or even Evolving Wilds . They will not only fix your mana base... but also stow cards into your graveyard for delve.

I like how you are running Dissipate to counter against Whip of Erebos and other graveyard benefits like Delve. I may want to swap out my Dissolve for them. Also, decent synergy from the third ability of Bow of Nylea to help you out from your own Sultai Ascendancy. +1!