Need jace.

Yes, I will be replacing my Evanescent Intellects with the Jace, Vryn's Prodigy when he becomes an official card, but he is not yet. Jace is awesome in this deck because of his looting which triggers the sphinx and his Mill ultimate.

Thanks for contributing!

Yeah, I really like the Sphinx's Tutelage card... and during the time frame when it's all legal, will be lots of fun. I esp like the Dictate for multi-trigger goodness.

You may want to add Whelming Wave to the main. You'll need it against any creature heavy deck- aka - almost the entire format. It's also a good target for Jace when he's flipped. And any cantrip that prevents damage\ taps creatures and draws a card like Crippling Chill could be really strong.

Thanks for the feedback bellz76.

Very true... I'll probably throw out the Wall of Frosts and replace it with a playset of Whelming Waves for a good wrath effect. I used to use Whelming Wave a lot in control decks, its really effective against the aggro players.

I'll definitely look over the cards like Crippling Chill as well, the card draw included is really great, but maybe a spell like that which costs 2 mana... I'll check and get back to you.

ANY PLAYERS:

I do need quite a bit of help with what my sideboard will consist of... If you have any ideas, I would LOVE to hear what you have to say, thanks!

So there's as problem with this build... it needs more removal, stalling, blockers... something to prevent damage, because if you don't draw the Whelming Wave, you just lose... and even if you did, you still probably lose... you need something to protect you, as well as Jace.

I think this deck can't be mono blue... I'm thinking it needs black... black gives you removal and card draw. But I think the card we might most want is Dark Deal. If we're trying to mill them, then making them discard their hand and draw that many cards (-1) is good, but the upside is when we draw cards.... that triggers the Tutelage X (-1) times- all at once. If you have cast the deal with 5 cards in hand, you get 4 triggers and you're milling for at least 8 cards... the trick is going to be finding uses for the deal when you don't have the enchantment out.

Even better, if you have a Jace on the board, it probably automatically flips him. And then he can allow you to recast the dark deal from the yard on the next turn... yeah, that's the way this deck has to go...

That is an excellent idea bellz76! I had never considered Dark Deal and I agree that it would work wonders as a mill card. And with my deck fairly heavy on card draw, it would be easy for me to come back from a double-Dark Deal. AND it fuels delve.

Would you think that perhaps a playset of Hero's Downfall would work? Or should I go Bile Blight.

Anyways, I'm definitely throwing out Grindclock, it's really slow and clunky, and would be a better spot for the Dark Deals. I'll do some more thinking on the Hero's Downfall and other spot removal.

Thanks again for the advice!

Yep, Hero's Downfall is great, Murderous Cut is really good, and there's no need for Whelming Wave since we're in black so either Crux of Fate or the new one Languish will be better. You might even want to run Ultimate Price- it's also really good.

I'm not sure if you want to keep making small changes to this build- you might just need to go back to formula starting with the Deal and the Tutelage

I'm definitely going with half Hero's Downfall and half Murderous Cut since this deck will keep a full graveyard. I'm not the biggest fan of Ultimate Price, but I may put it in the sideboard.

I'll mainboard 3 Languish, and if I can, 2 Bile Blight, but my issue is that making this deck 2 colors instead of simply splashing black will really slow it down. Trying to put together a mill deck with a U/B control deck may be disastrous. I guess we will see, I can always change back.

This is an awesome deck concept! You could even make use of the Dark Petition to find any piece you need say a Dark Deal or Treasure Cruise to help fuel it.

Nah- 2 colors isn't a bad thing... you're only playing 4 tapped lands... everything else comes into play ready to go.. and really, u\b are the mill colors anyway...

Doing some fish-bowling with this I'm hitting a bit of a snag... Treasure Cruise and Murderous Cut and a total nom-bo with Jace... he needs 5 cards in the yard to flip, and I think he cries just a little bit as we delve away cards... it might be better to run Sign in Blood and more Hero's Downfall and Ultimate Price- probably a 4 and 2...

And if there are no other cards that interact with Dark Deal in the deck, it's just clogging up your hand when the Tutelage is not on the board....

Thanks for your positive feedback trixster87! I really appreciate it! I will consider utilizing Dark Petition.

bellz76, I had not considered how detrimental delve was in this deck with Jace! Thanks for catching that, out with the Murderous Cuts immediately!

I really don't like putting in Sign in Blood to replace the cruises due to the life loss. One thing I learned in playing U/B control for so long was that in these type decks, I need to preserve every single bit of health I can, and I'm not sure this deck is fast enough to be spending life. Though you are most likely more experienced at Magic than I am, so I'd love to hear your viewpoint on it, thanks for all your help!

Day's Undoing is really good alone, but it also pairs great with Sphinx's Tutelage.

Well, the question is more like- which is better to draw 2 cards: 3 mana and no life, or 2 mana and 2 life? I mean, if you have the life to spare, than 2 mana to draw 2 is better... if you don't, it's a dead card and the 3 mana, life free card is better.

Some players forget that your life total is a resource as well. What difference does it make if you win at 1 life or 100? And when you play black, that's a balance that you have to find. What are you comfortable with? I see you put some Radiant Fountain on the list- each one offsets a Sign in Blood- does that make it easier to play them? Or maybe running the Dismal Backwater instead is enough. The only thing you can really do is test it out. I'm certain there will be games that you win with lots of life, and games that you can't play a sign or a cruise because of the restrictions (life or delve fodder). But the question is which happens more? Do the Treasure Cruise really effect you that much when you want to play a Jace mid to late game? Or is your graveyard always full of cards? Which happens more?

To be honest with you, these few questions\ examples are just the tip of the iceberg when trying to evaluate cards and if they fit better than others. Stuff like your mana base- is it easy it have BB, and how much burn is in the format can also factor in to the decision.

When looking at this deck specifically, you might want to ask yourself- do I need more card draw? 3 Divination, 3 Dictate of Kruphix, and 3 Jace is a bunch of card drawing... and even Dark Deal can act as card draw. I play it in a Waste Not deck, and can't tell you how many times I've hit a land pocket with a board stalemate that I cast it, pitch 4 lands and then drew 3 fresh cards. So the deck has lots of ways to see cards. So maybe the Treasure Cruise slot could be used for something else?

jamesfiek- You're trying to mill out your opponent and then you cast Day's Undoing and they get to shuffle their graveyard back into their library? I'm not sure that's the desired effect..... sounds more like the opposite :-)

Thanks to everyone for your helpful advice!

jamesfiek, I also was about to put in Day's Undoing until I realized, like bellz76, that it would shuffle in the graveyard as well :( ....

I will probably add 2 Sign in Blood maindeck, then another 2 sideboard in case my opponent is a slow midrange or control player. But if they are mono-red, or W/R, they're probably going out. I'm always really nervous and conservative with my health total, so I always shy away from doing things like Sign in Blood, Thoughtseize, and even the fetchlands, though I know that I do need to dip in my life to accelerate my gameplay speed.

I did consider adding a playset of Dismal Backwater, but I was hesitant because this deck needs to be as fast as possible with its milling. Mill is the blue version of burn, and I just need to do as much as I can as fast as possible.

But then I realized (with your help obviously) that milling is not as quick as burn, and that I needed stallers like Languish and Hero's Downfall, so now the Dismal Backwaters are definitely looking better and better. I will add them, and if they slow me down (which I don't think will be a problem anymore) I can just take a few out.

Thanks for the input!

Yeah it does shuffle, but it will be at the minimum mill 14, so if they have less than 14 in the graveyard, early game, it is pretty good, but it is pretty poopy late game. Oh well do what you want. You may want 1-2 though.

jamesfiek - to be honest, I hadn't considered it with the Sphinx's Tutelage in play... all I focused on was all the cards being shuffled back in..... and it would actually take out 21 of their cards... 7 to their hand and then 7 triggers.... hmm.... it's risky. Ugh... now it's got me thinking... You'd have to be casting it after turn 3 to have the Tutelage in play, so you'd have to have 3 mana in play... and then there's a chance that your fresh 7 has a Dark Deal in it... which would be another 7 triggers... (1 for draw phase, and 6 for the dark deal).... that would put at least another 14 cards.... so at least 35 total......

The first problem I see with it is late game it does stink... but we do have Jace to loot it away... but then he's the second problem... his minus ability is predicated on us have cards in the graveyard, which we will not have after the Undoing... third is that if you don't have the Tutelage in play, it's not very good. You opponent gets to use the fresh cards first and that's not good... Fourth issue is that it's currently going for 20.00.... and this deck is on the brink of budget if you take out the Delta's and switch the Languish into Crux of Fate... but if money isn't an issue, disregard number 3.

So yeah, I don't know...

disregard #4 in the above- not #3 if money isn't an issue

bellz76, jamesfiek, concerning the Day's Undoing, I don't think it would be extremely viable since it is very circumstantial. I mean, the combo that was laid out is very attractive, but for that to happen, the Sphinx's Tutelage and Day's Undoing would have to be drawn very early game, plus the Dark Deal being drawn in the fresh seven cards. I'm honestly having trouble finding my Sphinx's Tutelage in the first case, when playtesting. I think that adding more to the already circumstantial strategy may not work.

I will definitely be testing out the Day's Undoing however, because it may be a hidden gem.

And yes, cost is an issue for me, I wont even be running the Polluted Deltas in the physical version, but I also anticipate the price of Day's Undoing to plummet.

I guess we will just have to see.

I agree with you 100%. Too circumstantial is an understatement... but really cool to execute. If Quicken was legal in standard, that would broken but alas.....

Don't know if you noticed, but you have an extra downfall in the sideboard. Nice deck. My friend is interested in dimir mill. +1

What about Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver? It (apparently Ashiok is an it) takes the target off of you for a turn or two. And you get to mill more. I know you said price may be an issue, so I don't know.

Also, Demonic Pact can give you that last push that you may need. Sorry, the link is incorrect. It's a new card in origins. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

Doing a little more fish-bowling here....I think that if the deck is going to run a delve spell, it should be Dig Through Time instead of Treasure Cruise. I'm finding that the deck does good things when we find the Tutelage, but struggles when you don't- I mean, obviously- since the deck revolves around them.... the Cruise gives us 3 triggers, but the Dig gives us the Tutelage... The only other option I might suggest is finding a spot for Anticipate to help find the cards...