I like things like...Flayer of the Hatebound but again, it's kind of dependant on other things. Good synergy with the deck, but not particularly strong on it's own.

Hmm...

Oh yeah. I feel your pain. Haha. I have two little monsters.

Yeah. Focusing more on that angle could be a benefit. the Flayer could surely add some fire power, especially if you are able to get him out quick with the summoning enchantment.

Ok, I'm looking at probably cutting Chandra, since I find I almost never want to cast her. My copy will fit into my modern grixis deck better anyway, but do I want to run more than one?

Yeah. Want to trade her? I don't actually own the one's I added to my build, but I like them in proxy-play testing.

I'll look at your wants to see if I have anything worthwhile you want/need.

I would add Thought Scour and i think that this deck might actually be able to pull off running Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded . You might think "he sucks" but with a deck like this, he isn't necessarily bad. his plus 1 puts more stuff into your graveyard for the lich, and gives you more flashback cards in the graveyard.

he also takes the pressure off of you early game a lot of the time, so life gain wouldnt be as big of a concern

and maybe drop the heartless summonings for something else to mana accel, such as Chromatic Lantern or something. the summoning kills your snapcasters that you need to snap in to block occasionally

@ rickthebrave To be honest, the Heartless Summoning s usually sit in my hand until late game when I need to get my engine running, or when I can afford to drop them cause I have a handful of cheap removal. Then flashing in Snapcaster Mage as a blocker is less of a priority anyway. I see your point though.

I really don't like Chromatic Lantern in control. Maybe I expect alot from my mana rocks, but I don't like losing position on a 3-drop that does nothing else but fix mana and provide one itself...I do see it's value with Havengul Lich though. I've always had that problem with cards like Megrim , Burning Vengeance and the like. I dunno...

As far as Tibalt goes; I wouldn't be opposed to trying it, it would serve a similar function to the Desperate Ravings just without the flashback. I'd be afraid he's a dead draw late though, aside from pitching a potential flashback/reanimation target. I never write a card off as "sh*tty" until I've played it myself.

@ theemptyquiver

I actually just traded for the Chandra last weekend, I had planned to slot her into Robust Harvest to see what shenanigans she could copy there (two Blightning s, yes please) So unfortunately I'm not looking at trading her right now.

and btw, u have 6 Tragic Slip s in your main and side together lol. maybe add those Blasphemous Act s into the sideboard, i ran them in my old grixis control deck and its hilarious with snapcaster

Yeah. Two blightnings would be wicked awesome.

Im with you on Havengul Lich , One of my favorite cards in standard, he kinda got forgotten since Priest of Urabrask rotated out. Why aren't you running Faithless Looting or Nephalia Drownyard ? Maybe look into Mystic Retrieval and Dream Twist too. +1 from me.If it's not to much trouble mind taking a look at my havengul deck? BUG kill things, also midrangey stuff.

@ dennisd12 Mystic Retrieval is interesting but expensive. I am running Faithless Looting , I couldn't get by without it. This deck has evolved from a Perilous Myr +Priest of Urabrask combo deck, into it's current form.

I don't use Nephalia Drownyard because I find this deck to be more of a kill-everything control deck, and I find the Drownyard to be better in permission. Dream Twist is an interesting suggestion. Cheap flashback that could essentially let me "draw" six...something to think about.

I playtested against my Grixis deck and you got Olivia out on turn 3...and then I was able to delete it from existence after it nabbed 2 of my life.

I got out Chandra on turn 5 and started pinging you.

You tried to burn chandra to death but i had dissipates to spare and the spears burned nothing.

From there is got bleak, because you drew into more summonings...which felt like dead weight after the initial draw.
On turn 7 you drew a lich, but i still had a third (lucky) dissipate in hand to deal with it.

chandra kept pinging. on turn 9 i had Bolas out and with no direct answer for that the game was over 3 turns later.
if only you had a dreadbore or two! chandra and bolas were the undoing!

So...Dreadbore in the side is probably a good idea then? I'll buy that, the only reason it's not listed is because I don't have any but I'm definitely open to acquiring them.

I think it seems reasonable, because my first planeswalker hit the field and was out of burn range and your hand possessed no answer, and I had been keeping creatures at bay.You had two searing spears, but you needed both to successfull resolved to ping enough damage to the PW face.

The second PW I got out was out of burn range too, and then it was trouble. Dreadbore in place of the burning spears would have (if resolved) dealt with those nuisences quite nicely.

Ok, that makes enough sense. Most of the time my Searing Spear s are for creatures anyway.

Did you see a Burning Vengeance in your test?

I did. I was able to get it out early, and then nothing with flashback made it to the graveyard.
So it was there and ready.

If I would have had creatures to target, the spear would have been good.

Dreadbore would certainly be warranted against other control match-ups that likely have some PWs.

Secrets of the dead also ended up being a dead draw in my game play. I would have preferred to have drawn desperate ravings, but never even got one. Maybe having that a 4x would be better?

Hmm...I've tested Desperate Ravings quite a bit and I've found four is too many, but with three and all the looting I'd expect to see at least one.

I've been on the fence about Secrets of the Dead . I see some mad card draw possibilities but you know...inconsistency and all that. I made some changes though, what do you think?

@ TristanTaylorsVoice

I like your thinking on Rolling Temblor . One thing I've experienced is...and I have to give KrazyCaley credit for this one, since I borrowed it from Bolas for a Better Tomorrow. With all the removal in this deck Barter in Blood is a pretty effective board wipe. What would I take out in favor of Rolling Temblor ?

This isn't Arcane Melee combo, so unfortunately I'm gonna have to say that I think Mystic Retrieval is too slow for this format, so I would suggest to cut it. Another card that I think would do you justice for digs instead of the one Think Twice and the Faithless Looting s is Desperate Ravings : It digs and bins like looting, and at instant speed gaining card advantage like Think Twice . The other card I would attempt to fit in here is Pillar of Flame , because if you don't like stomping on aggro's curve starting on turn 1 now, you'll certainly want them once Voice of Resurgance pops up everywhere. You could cut down on your main deck counterspells and side them against slower decks if you want to make room.

I was running Pillar of Flame and, yes once Voice of Resurgence comes around I may begin running it again, but for now it stays out. I always found it wasn't as good as I needed it to be when I compare it to the utility of say Izzet Charm . Obviously there are counter examples, but its a meta-game choice.

I also just recently cut the Desperate Ravings from this list. I've found when I need something, Faithless Looting is usually better. It can help me dig first turn to get me closer to a Heartless Summoning or even just to toss a spell with flashback into the graveyard. Card quality is the name of the game. The sweet thing is, even late game if/when I'm short on cards it's still a burn spell to the head when I have Guttersnipe out. I'm flip-flopping on the Think Twice /Desperate Ravings argument though, I like digging one deeper with Desperate Ravings , so I think you may have convinced me to slot it back in.

I have to respectively disagree with you on Mystic Retrieval . Rebuying Dreadbore , Barter in Blood , Counterflux and Slaughter Games (out of the board) puts people away. This deck eats midrange, and Mystic Retrieval guarantees I have any answer I need, repeatedly. I could probably afford to go down to two though.

Well if Mystic Retrieval is working for you then don't let me stop you! Unless you have a lot of Boros Reckoner in your meta I think that Rolling Temblor will be a great fit for you.

A couple people are running Boros deck wins, but I'd definitely squeeze a few into the sideboard at least. Between Rolling Temblor and Barter in Blood I should be set up for aggro decks. They seem to give me the biggest headaches.

Thanks for the advice!

just a thought. wouldn't you want more creatures in the yard to synergize the lich + burning vengeance? 11 creatures is a bit low, I would actually be picking off their yards with the lich. I am contemplating about making a standard mill deck with the lich.