Upgraydded. Not as much as I'd like but I just built Magitek Machinations and merely splurged on a few cards for my dear Braids. Hopefully the extra mana rocks speed things up. Still waiting to get a Caged Sun but it's probably coming soon.

It's absolutely killing me to remove some sea monsters but theft is the primary theme and things aren't flowing. After all, in EDH every creature should do more than be beefy (unless it's REALLY beefy!).

I'm new to EDH played this deck. I saw many combos hidden and it was a great fight against the owner with this. For the budget I give this 5 stars. Finally a fun blue deck that didn't have artifacts or Pill.

Is it common to do well in games or do you typically lose pretty badly?

I typically do well but clinching an actual win is hard. Doable, but it takes a bit of luck. It also depends on the playgroup; if I go to the shop or play with certain friends it's under-powered (especially for its price) but other friends it's just right or overpowering. Generally I would say it's more gimmicky than competitive but it can win and it's highly satisfying when it does.

Great idea! +1

Words of Wind seems like a really good option to help keep boards manageable. You can get braids off the field before the end of your turn to prevent them from getting value or just mass bounce to stall until a better strategy presents itself.

Really fun build!~

I'd like to put Dominating Licid into the mix. It's repeatable, transferable creature theft that's surprisingly hard to kill.

You might also want to consider Crystal Shard as a redundant erratic portal that basically costs the same to activate in mono-blue

tef3ri... it's already in.

Oops.

This is amazing, you've put so much work into it! Love all the updates over the years. It really shows your love for this deck! This would be really fun to play against. <3

MapPsycho Thanks! This deck is definitely one of my babies.

Commandeer or Lay Claim for some theft

Am I missing something? What is the reason for Exotic Orchard and Tolaria West? I want to put together a similar deck and want to make sure I’m not missing something.

raven42 Exotic Orchard is for when I steal a creature with an activated ability. Tolaria West is to find other utility lands

Awesome Build!!! My buddy's Braids deck is fun to play into during the first 5 turns! You feel like there's hope. Like your deck is performing in a way it could only dream of. And... if you haven't found a way to eliminate him by turn 6, he has 3 Braids, 2 upkeeps, and the game is over.

Great Braids deck; +1! Mine is more Braids-centered than this one, but like you I have a soft-spot for theft-strategies so I applaud the combination and completely get it.

I've found Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to be of excellent value in my own Braids deck. Not just as a copy of Braids, but of my more powerful legendaries as well. For theft I've been using Sphinx Ambassador in my own deck to great effect. Also, Wandering Archaic  ^Flip has been very effective as it allows me to make use of opponents' spells without ever having to pay for it; I consider it theft in a way as well.

Anyways, keep it up with this great build! If you would like to check my deck, you can find it here.