@SwiftDeath: I forgot about Nightveil Specter ! Nice suggestion!

If I decide to go to more of a "creature featured" Grixis deck, I'll definitely be putting that guy in.

I REALLY like the Desecration Demon suggestions and I'll have to decide on where I can make room for him. Suggestions for replacement?

@gufymike: Syncopate gives me a chance to counter earlier threats. You are right that the "hard counter" is better in the long game, however I like to add variety so I'm not sitting with 2-3 Dissolve s in my hand and only 2 blue to cast it :)

The Frostburn Weird s are good vs aggro early AND can be a place for me to sink excess mana into for more damage (also add to devotion). I'll have to playtest once I obtain the cards, but my initial impression will be that it will be harder to "devote" to Thassa, God of the Sea and make her active

Personally, the devotion costs for me aren't that important /me only. Because, if i'm playing the gods, it's for their ability not the creature aspect, if I get the devotion up and running and a creature, all the better. I think this way so I don't get into the mindset, "I need to devote." because that's an easy strategy my opponent can exploit and make me start chasing through removal and other strategies. With that said, I also think Omenspeaker is a much better card than Frostburn Weird , overall, for both aggro management and control. it's your weakest card in the deck as it is now, because of the other removal you can play turn 2 on.

for early threats, Negate or Essence Scatter are a little bit better IMO, Syncopate has some utility in the exile part, but that's it.

Essence Scatter would be my preferred IF I knew I was facing all aggro decks. I have 1 in my SB for it, but thinking about upping it to 2.

I'll have to proxy the cards (or wait until this weekend) to play and see how the deck plays out. If I seem to be "going the long game" more often than not I will put in the Steam Augury to help offset that thanks!

I can see you comboing Thassa, God of the Sea 's mana ability with Master of Cruelties . I kind of have the same thing going on with Thassa and Necropolis Regent .

The only problem I have with Necropolis Regent is her triple black mana cost. hard to pull for a 3 colored deck :)

and I think you meant "activated ability" and not mana ability as she does not produce mana but I got what you meant.

I think she's a PERFECT fit for any control deck right now as she is constant Scry and given enough devotion to blue can be a win con when she's active

Turn / Burn ?! One of the best removal spells! That's the beauty of grixis, being able to run that coupled with Far / Away ! :D

I have thought about running Turn / Burn due to the damage that can be dealt by it for after Master of Cruelties trigger. What would you take out for it?

How bout -1 Hero's Downfall , -1 Omenspeaker , +2 Turn / Burn ? :)

@Skar_xD: I agree that I can probably drop an Omenspeaker and maybe a Frostburn Weird , but then I'm adding more removal and not enough win cons. It will also affect my draws as Omenspeaker helps smooth out my turns and gets me to what I want/need faster. I think the deck could lose 1 so I'll do that at least.

As far as Hero's Downfall it's either going to be that or Dreadbore as they can hit planeswalkers. This deck doesn't have any other answer to them other than counterspells

I've been thinking about putting Sire Of Insanity in the sideboard to replace Master of Cruelties against control decks or midrange decks packing a lot of sorcery speed removal. Thoughts?

Why not Frostburn Weird instead of Returned Phalanx or Omenspeaker ? They block more, are useful on offense if the opportunity arises, survives Anger of the Gods , and would boost your devotion to blue.

I agree that Frostburn Weird is better than Returned Phalanx but I approve of Omenspeaker as the scry 2 ability is very potent, and her 1/3 body is fairly decent, if she draws out an Anger of the Gods I'd say we're doin just fine.

Along with the scry 2, her 1/3 body blocks Mutavault and Precinct Captain and even Soldier of the Pantheon which I see in mainboards all day.

You guys are right....I actually had Frostburn Weird in here to start with and for some reason forgot about putting them back in. I'll make the switch back to those thanks!

Way to many creatures. If you want to control you need more counter and destroy effects. Your win con should be aetherling with Frostburn blocking and Nightveil chipping away.

+4 Doom Blade +4 dissolve +4 hero's downfall +4 Dreadbore I'm also running Grixis currently and I've top 3d the last month. It has great matchups against everything. It's beginning to look a lot like Grixis.

Sigh... I hate the 'refresh' button when I'm typing a long response...

Long story short, I would personally recommend,

1x AEtherling

4x Desecration Demon

4x Frostburn Weird

4x Jace, Architect of Thought

4x Dreadbore

4x Ratchet Bomb

3x Dissolve

4x Far / Away

3x Hero's Downfall

3x Opportunity

(34 cards)

Your deck has too many 1-of's in it and is VERY inconsistent. I've been finding from personal experience that ratchet bomb is an amazing card, even against aggro, not to mention it's 2 COLORLESS mana to cast. (which is crucial in a 3-color control deck)

I would have typed this in more detail, but refresh button ruined that, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for the comments guys!

This is more of a "midrange" deck than control...I guess it was labeled wrong in my forum post.

@BeatAll: No Anger of the Gods ? It's like the only "board wipe" Grixis truly has...

I'm also thinking that the Thoughtseize needs to be in the sideboard as this deck doesn't regain the life loss very easily...what do you guys think on that?

Let's be clear, Anger of the Gods is NOT a boardwipe. It misses a lot of creatures in the most powerful decks in standard.

For example, Mono-blue. It misses frostburn weird and master of waves.

Mono-black, it misses Desecration demon and Gray Merchant.

For GR Ramp it misses Polukranos and Arbor Collosus.

For GW it misses Loxodon Smiter and Advent of the Wurm.

The list goes on, but ratchet bomb in itself is good against all decks in standard. When I played Grixis control a few weeks back, I tried mainboarding 3x Anger of the Gods. In virtually every game I played, it was a dead card in my hand and I sided it out in almost every match up.

I'd say Anger is best used sideboard because it does work well in certain match ups and should be used. Especially against Boros devotion.

I got ya. Ok so mainboard the Ratchet Bomb and sideboard the Anger of the Gods . THEN I'll only bring them in against blitz decks

What about the Thoughtseize comment I made above?

As far as the other cards, I only have 1 Jace at the moment, and only 2 demons but I can probably pick up a couple more of these cards by tomorrow.

Master of Cruelties

I had him in here originally dadadart. What would you replace him with?