EchoScorch Deckling

One of many comments I have, Nullhide Ferox shuts off 15 of the cards in your mainboard and isn't really necessary, if you opponent is playing Nicol Bolas just Contempt it lol.

I also went ahead and cut Firemind's Research for another Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip because the card is so slow and the amount of mana you have to dedicate in order to draw cards is not worth it.

Going to test out two Ritual of Soot in the sideboard in place of two Fiery Cannonade.

While I like that Ionize is less of an issue with the manabase, from my testing because of the dual lands you will have double blue most of the time, and I love the ability to filter the top card of the library to fuel Search for Azcanta  ^Flip.

After looking at Unmoored Ego, it easily fits sideboard slots in the deck because it can handle many threats that the mainboard cannot deal with.

In terms of how to play the deck, you are looking in the early game to resolve one of your powerful enchantments (Depending on the matchup) and not cast your win conditions until you can effectively protect them. Use Thought Erasure and Unmoored Ego to strip their deck/hand of threats, Sorcerous Spyglass for information, and use your instants to control the board state.

It all really depends on the metagame. Usually, I would not want to run more than one syncopate in a more "Tap Out" control shell like this one, and you have to realize that you are taking syncopate out on the draw 95% of the time. I like the power that Sorcerous Spyglass gives because it complete shuts down Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and against any deck that relies on planeswalkers, etc.

The list is already quite thin on available slots, and I feel that most games having an opt is not going to change much, and with the shock lands in the format, especially against aggressive decks, you are going to see a turn one tapped shock land into a turn two buddy/untapped shock land to preserve your life total.

Nice card suggestions, and as we move towards the end of spoiler season into the new format I will see how the metagame shapes and up and make changes accordingly.

Going to test it out - Never really liked Vance's Blasting Cannons  ^Flip. I feel like the spell is fine, but the main advantage to Snapcaster Mage and Torrential Gearhulk is they also give you a body. It is nice however that it does say choose, so they cannot exile the spell in response to the ability, they have to choose it before the spell resolves.

My biggest issues with Underrealm Lich, and why I have not included him in any of my sultai/Golgari builds so far is he is very vulnerable to removal. We are going to be in a format with two lightning bolt effects, Cast Down, and Assassin's Trophy. I feel like tapping out for a creature on turn 5 is going to be a larger issue when your OP can just drop a Teferi and go ham.

If they become a major player in the metagame, it would probably end up being a 1 of in the sideboard, just like Scavenger Grounds was for a bit, just because it can cause mana issues in the main board, and isn't always useful.

This deck is more of a tap-out style of control deck, if you want to look at Reid Duke's most recent article about the evolution of Blue/Black and other midrange decks for the upcoming set https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/thought-erasure-and-the-evolution-of-u-b. In terms of land, I would be happy running 24 but I might up the total to 25, because the deck has a low curve with 10 cards in the main board that directly interact with the top of the library.

Just saw that it was in your maybeboard, my mistake. I am going to love playing any of the three color pairs that have two shocklands in the new format.

Instead of running Duress and Divest as your hand disruption, if it does not change your curve to much I would recommend Thought Erasure it costs two mana but it has both modes and helps you fix the top of your library/graveyard.