Castle locthwain I rarely use its ability. I tend to try to set up an upkeep discard as early as possible. Anvil is usually my go to early. Once anvil plus tiny bones is established I'll either search for a missing combo piece or go for geths grimoire for more draw. So usually draw isn't my issue with the deck. Creatures usually are the problem or having everything I play destroyed as soon as I play it. Chains and oppression are the usual targets.

Hey Awdiehl7, Praetor's Grasp is definitely situational, it depends on your playgroup. The higher the power level of the group, the more relevant Grasp becomes. It also helps if you play against the same decks or archetypes frequently, so you know how they work and what you can utilize with Grasp. I’ve also considered dropping the Swamps and running 1 of each card to enable Tainted Pact, that way I can steal Thassa's Oracle and win by exiling my library with Pact. I’m weighing whether the occasional extra mana potential with Cabal Coffers is worth running over Pact.

Profet93, yes, Castle Locthwain is rarely used, but it can come in handy in a tight spot. At least there is the option to draw a card at instant speed, even if I take some minimal life-loss. Plus I can use it in conjunction with Words of Waste on an opponent’s turn.

And yes, the stax pieces are always being targeted by other players, so the trick is layering them as the game progresses to overwhelm the other players, and eventually lock their hands down before they can kill you. If your meta is super creature-heavy, consider adding additional removal like I mentioned earlier. I don’t remember if I mentioned it, but Tainted AEther is very effective as well.

Also, I’d love to see pics of the deck. I’ve been meaning to post picks of mine, but I haven’t gotten around to it!

Profet93, I like Skullclamp, but I would need to run more creatures to utilize it to its full potential. I’ve also been considering Braids, Arisen Nightmare for additional draw. It’s rare that an opponent would sacrifice a permanent, but I can at least convert a less-useful permanent into 2-3 cards every turn.

What do you guys think of Braids?

I might try putting tainted aether back in. I don't play as much cedh with the deck so some of the cards that are better in cedh are worse in more casual groups. Typically I play mine against decks that are 7-8 power level. With a lot of them being stronger creature decks. Cedh has a lot less creatures attacking so it makes sense that I might have to change a couple cards to fit the decks I typically play against.

Tainted pact with praetors grasp for oracle doesn't seem worth it in my opinion. The reason is that currently you have 3 cards that can make blue. Mox opal, mox diamond and lotus petal. You need 2 out of the 3 to oracle. On top of needing both tainted pact and praetors grasp to do it. To me that seems not worth it. Now tainted pact can just be a tutor as well so you could argue that. Which could be beneficial having one more tutor to find what you need on an opponents end phase.

Skullclamp would need you to run more creatures or play cards that produce 1/1s in order to utilize it to its full potential. My only concern with braids is how often do you really want to sacrifice your permanents. So depending on your board state I can see braids not being used very often. Unless you play cards that make tokens you can sacrifice each turn to get your opponents to let you draw.

I'll try to post a picture of my deck today. It's not 100% done yet. My European swamps and beta dark ritual aren't in yet. The last cards I'm missing are old border Chrome mox and extended Jeweled lotus. I try to have everything old border and if it doesn't come old border I try to go borderless

what a coincidence, tiny punisher was the nickname the girls gave me in HS

Good points Awdiehl7. We have to get around to taking those pics eventually.

zapyourtumor, ha! How does it go, it isn’t the size that matters, but how you use it?

zAzen7977 thats for me to know and for you to find out

Here's some pictures of my deck.

https://imgur.com/a/0SlHa0V

I think you need more instant discard effects. Since you're in mono black, drawing cards become more crucial, and I think you won't be hitting your anvil affects as often as you wish. Cards like mindlash sliver. I think you also need a few not as good tutors if you're going to run more than 1 combo. Otherwise you're just filling your deck with potential dead draws. At least in my opinion at least :). But love the tiny bones, as I have loved him in cEDH myself

What is your opinion on the one ring for the deck?

Hey Awdiehl7, it’s been a while but I’ve been meaning to thank you for posting the image of your deck, it’s awesome!!! It’s so cool to see that you and others are as big a fan of this deck as I am.

I’m back and I’m testing changes to the deck. You’ll probably see lots of edits over the next few days. When I’m happy with the changes I’ll post an update.

I’m on the fence with The One Ring, since it’s expensive at 4 mana for a protection and card-draw effect.

Hey GodzSoldier, thank you for the constructive criticism. I have taken your advice and added new tutors like Insatiable Avarice and Beseech the Mirror, and I also added Mindlash Sliver, a card that slipped by me somehow. Any other suggestions are always welcome.