Curiosity instead of Last Thoughts?

You could change Triton Shorestalker for Slither Blade it's a bit more resilient and can block small creatures if you didn't attack.

You could even add Looter il-Kor to have more of a draw engine, although i don't know what to cut for it.

Dete Yeah that’s just a straight up improvement. Thanks for showing me that!

Want to be more annoying with your unblockable play? Consider Blighted Agent.

I like this. I would consider adding a land or two to get to those high cost cipher spells, but overall, a very fun and flavorful deck.

Creeping Tar Pit
And I would consider 2x Bident of Thassa over 3x Curiosity. That way, your draw is with every creature that does damage, not just the enchanted creatures. It's a bit of a mana investment, but triggers same turn, and doesn't put a bullseye on a decent attacker.

Your main creature cipher focus is really on Invisible Stalker. Everything else seems like aggressive Fodder.

That being said, Mental Vapors and Undercity Plague ultimately seem a bit high cost for their effects. vapors could easily be replaced with Raven's Crime. And for Plague, I would suggest just throw in another Shadow Slice, and go to town with those on the stalkers.

Looking at your mana curve, (pretty sexy, btw) you may want to consider perhaps adding in a slightly heavier blue mana base. I love your approach here, whether it be intentional or accidental. The first 4 turns are almost guaranteed to be low cost blue spells and you need to make your board presence as soon as possible. To do that, you need to guarantee you're gonna pull blue over black at the start of every game. Just tip the scales to 11x island and 7x Swamp. Then the black mana will be available right when you need it.

Good luck!

TheSurgeon Thanks for disecting (heh) this so thoroughly!! Yeah, Invisible Stalker is definitely the best target. the other people here I was really just looking to get the most value out of low CMC, other than Inkfathom Witch who is a win con.

Yes, those spells are a bit high cost for my taste. I basically comfort myself by saying it’s an investment in its indefinite use. I might throw in the extra Shadow Slice, though. Those are fun. You can net a cool 10 damage if you play one just right.

Also, thanks! You have no idea how long it took me to get a good curve for early game. This deck runs its course pretty quickly so I gotta make sure I start strong. I’ll go ahead and adjust my lands and see how that works out. I’m pretty unlucky with land draw, so let’s hope that makes a difference.

Thanks for all the advice!

TheSurgeon Whoops, I just noticed your first comment. Was wondering where those other suggestions came from. xD

I actually used to run Creeping Tar Pit in this, but I found myself largely unable to keep up with maintaining a good speed and regularly paying the 3 mana it took to activate the thing, so I went with the Dimir Keyrune which is a little bit more manageable long term.

Bident of Thassa is great, but I think it’s all just a little extra. I don’t find myself really needing more draw with this set up, so I don’t think I should pay the extra cost for it.

Once again, thank you for being so helpful!!

maybe add 2xMizzium Skin and 1xTriton Tactics or other spells that buff your creatures for spells that damage all the creatures and some bounce spells for saving others

What about Stinkdrinker Bandit and Vampire Cutthroat?

Ouroboros_47 I like Stinkdrinker Bandit, but I’m not sure what I could take out to for him. Any suggestions there?

Hmm, I think I'd swap out 2 Hero's Downfall and 2 Dimir Keyrunefor it. I thought on some other changes I might make to the deck. Curious Obsession might be nice in place of Curiosity for those times you don't have an Inkfathom Witch. Also maybe 2 Hands of Binding for 2 Hidden Strings?

Ouroboros_47 Thank you for all the suggestions. I’ve updated the deck a bit with them in mind. Very helpful. Thank you.

Hey Lord_Olga no problem glad I could be of help.

Virulent Swipe is not exactly on theme, as it would shift the deck into aggro, but it would fit well.

More on theme: Vapor Snag/Unsummon would be excellent early plays, as the deck doesn't handle aggro well. Fatal Push would be better than Hero's Downfall, for the mainboard. If you prefer more options/are running into a plethora of planeswalkers, then Boomerang (more for Tron lands), Consign / Oblivion, Disperse, or Perilous Voyage. Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Unmoored Ego are good control sideboard options.

I like this, but, as it isn't that quick, it could use more control to combat aggro/burn strategies.

Not sure if you would count this as being on theme, but in a deck I run that is very similar to this one, I have 4 copies of Mask of Memory. It's a fantastic card draw engine when you have unblockable creatures. I'm not sure if it's better than Obsession in this build, but I would consider it for resilience against removal.

Quiet_Listener - I do like that cards resilience. I also like that I draw 2 instead of 1. However, it takes 3 mana to use the thing and I wanna get my draw going as soon as I can. The deck is slow enough as is and I’m relying on that draw to speed things up. So to me, I don’t think that trade off is worth it. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Looter il-Kor is both a rogue and is essentially unblockable, while also having the looting ability. Along a similar vein Nether Traitor is recursable and Stronghold Overseer might just work as an alternative finisher. Most players have forgotten Shadow even exists, so you may as well use it to your advantage. I'd second rdean14 on adding some removal, be it Vapor Snag or Fatal Push... For resillience against removal Supernatural Stamina or Undying Evil might work. Hope thi si of some help, good luck with your brew.

maybe 4 Stinkdrinker Bandit and 2 Inkfathom Witch ? Stinkdrinker will always be 2 mana, so it's not like that will ever be an issue. Plus the buffs stack if i am not mistaken :O the mana color might be the reason, but I see no reason to not run 4 of the Bandit.

Oona's Blackguard for the Opness that is this card? Sygg, River Cutthroat for card draw? also makes sense as to why (a bit? card still seems op) only 2 Stinkdrinker Bandit , cuz only unblockable if you got Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive out.

ninja988 - Thanks for the suggestions!! Lemme go through them here.

Swapping card count for Stinkdrinker Bandit and Inkfathom Witch - There are two reasons there are more of Inkfathom Witch . For one, her ability let’s me access a higher bonus more quickly, rather than perhaps getting multiple Stinkdrinker Bandit ’s. Secondly, she actually has a conditional unblockable keyword, Fear. That makes her able to join the attack in most situations without external help like Stinkdrinker Bandit would need. However, you are right, Stinkdrinker Bandit ’s stacking potential isn’t really being utilized. So I compromised and made them both 3x.

Oona's Blackguard - I’ll think about it. While she has the potential to do more discard than Mental Vapors , she’s also a LOT more easily removed.

Sygg, River Cutthroat - I did consider him before, some other people have also recommended him. I feel, however, that Curious Obsession gives me more draw, and also serves as a buff. It also, again, is a lot harder to removed than Sygg, River Cutthroat . So I’m gonna keep what I got for this one.

Thanks again for the comment!

I really don't think you need 4 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive . Her only purpose in the deck seems to be that she helps Stinkdrinker Bandit be unblockable and that she is a rogue. Which, admittedly, is good in this deck.

But fact is that she is a legendary creature, and you can only have 1 of those at a time. Each Tetsuko you draw after the first is a dead draw.

Surely you can find another rogue that can replace 2 copies of Tetsuko?

NoopyNolife - You’re probably right. I’ll probably just adjust the counts of the cards already in here instead of putting 2 of something else in here.