so I have been fighting with myself over what to do with this deck. the Lotus Petal s in the main board work great, but I am really considering replacing them with Daze for a much more control game. Thats my conflict with my main play style. I am also weighing the value of Surgical Extraction vs. Extirpate one will hit multiple cards (hopefully) and can come out for no mana, the other cant be countered and can play funny games with decks that rely on the stack. other then that I would love to fit a Mindbreak Trap or two into the sideboard, but its a little tight. I have been considering cutting the It That Betrays though

i would remove Mental Misstep because its banned, other then that it looks cool

You might want to try Dark Ritual for more turn 1 Griselbrand possibilities. also, i am a big fan of Buried Alive which goes well with Dark Ritual .

Gitaxian Probe + Cabal Therapy is better than Thoughtseize in my opinion. Cabal Therapy can also be a way to get cards from your hand to the graveyard.

You probably don't need Ponder if you're running Brainstorm . Consider swapping 4x Ponder for 4x Remand . Or consider pulling 2 of each for 4x Remand .

Droxium I run that kind of reanimation scheme in my original deck that is mentioned in the description. i find that when it does work, its incredibly wonderful and there is rejoicing in the streets ( I have this really great combo with it check it out). the problem with it is it has proven less reliable that this method. playing a buried alive on turn 3 is waaaaayyyyy to slow, making it completely reliant on having Dark Ritual for it. but the bigger problem is, what would I cut to put that stuff in??

CastleSiege I would absolutely agree that those two cards in combination are far superior to that little ol Thoughtseize but as you see, I only have room in my main board for two of them as is. Are you suggesting that I replace those two with 1x Gitaxian Probe + 1x Cabal Therapy ? i do not know if that would work out super well there. If not what would you recommend cutting to make room? But you have mentioned something that I have been considering (ie dropping the number of Ponder s) I have been using them because they have been giving me great deck control and additional fodder for Force of Will but I am looking into alternatives, Remand not being one of them, and this is why. I am playing as many big bad beat sticks as fast as I possibly can, and in the off chance that I do not get them on a lock down (if I did I would not need remand) then I need to be keep what I get out alive. this is why I use counters like Force of Will or Daze , because what happens, more often than not, is very early I expend all available mana getting a creature out (if not that, than setting up for the creature thats about to come out) in which case I have no mana to play counters like remand at the time when I really need to. If anything I will up the number of Daze

Thanks for the suggestions guys. All feedback is welcome :)

I disagree with your choice and explanation of Inkwell Leviathan in the decklist. If you are overly worried about Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile, then you can name white with iona. Naming white will also shut down future Containment Priests, Stoneforge Mystic, along with those two removal spells. Also: if you Animate Dead Griselbrand first, and they Swords to Plowshares it, you can in response pay 14 life and draw 14 cards. That should normally garuntee you another 'something' to get back.

It would be better if you chose to run Mindbreak Trap or Flusterstorm instead, to deal with storm and win more counterwars.

I appreciate the comment and that you have read what bits of the primer I have up so far.

I am not overly worried about Path to Exile in particular they were just an example given of spot removal that you can run into. I just named those 2 because they are pretty popular. If I am in a situation like that I would do exactly as you mentioned with iona. She is my go to in basically every situation. Inkwell is there fore when it is not enough. I will go and try to clarify that in the primer.

Yup I am very well aware of using Griselbrand's ability by adding it on the stack. Not my personal method of harping on him, but I plan on addressing the variations and things like that further on in the primer. Just have not done it yet XD

I had Mindbreak Trap in the sideboard for what seems like forever. I also did not used to use Hapless Researcher so I have had to reshuffle some cards while I test him out

thanks for commenting