Right off the top swap Reap Intellect for Slaughter Games Reap can be countered, costs more and generally you will have an idea what cards are going to be in the deck based on the archetype they are playing. Also Slaughter Games is not dependent on them having your target in their hand. Taking multiple cards is nice but if their hand is full of junk then its a wasted cast. So on that note I dont know if Realmwright is a good call here. I think if you take him out and add some more Thoughtsieze. This will help you disrupt their hand as well as giving you information on what to slaughter and how to protect yourself.

Traumatic Spiral

+1

Any reason why you don't have Traumatize in here?

NeoHazard I am going to Sideboard at least 2 Slaughter Games . Reap Intellect may be able to be countered but it also gives me a solid chance at exiling something of importance and still getting a solid mill down. The Realmwright and Crypt Ghast combo wasnt just for Reap Intellect it also can be a win con for Mind Grind . i would however consider taking out Reap Intellect for Thoughtsieze, but thoughtseize also needs to go down in price some.

Lord007 im gonna test Steam Augury in place of Traumatize for the time being. they may be 2 completely different cards but with the current amount of mill by turn 5 i'd like to try something different first

thank you guys for the +1's and help!

I'm not following you on how Reap Intellect mills other than it can remove more then one card when you cast it but its really not a cost efficient way of doing so. Consider x=2, so CMC of 6, and you will "mill" at best 8 cards if they havent cast a copy of something you take and are running them as a four of.

Realmwright I misread and thought it was only effecting you basic lands. So I can understand what you were thinking with the Crypt Ghast but I feel that it is vulnerable to so much with out improving your board state enough on its own. And the good news is that with being reprinted the cost on Thoughtsieze should be coming down soon.

As for the Steam Augury if what you are going for is card draw/thinning your deck what about Read the Bones one less CMC and one less card seen but no chance for you to have to put a Jace in the graveyard. Does suffer from being sorcery instead of instant but it already seems like this is going to be a slower Standard than we are used to.

And just a word of warning about Mind Grind from some personal experience it runs counter to what a counter/control deck wants to do. To use it to its maximum use you have to tap out on your turn. Meaning they can cast any bomb they have in hand and you cant do anything about it. I would try running only two copies of it as you dont want to draw it to early and you dont likely need to draw it three times. I ran two of in my mill deck and often swapped them out for Reap Intellect after game one.

Hope this helps. I really do like mill as a wincon cause its just so annoying lol.

I would take out Reap Intellect altogether, you want to mill, forget your opponent's hand, if you REEEEAAAALLY want to control your opponent's hand, just use Thoughtseize , other than that, you should concentrate on milling your opponent so he doesn't get the cards he/she needs for his/her deck to function.

Reap Intellect and Slaughter Games both have their pros and cons. I've played a game where I knew the guy ran Terminus so I used Slaughter Games to get rid of it. Yet, he was still able to beat me with what he had in hand. Reap Intellect , although it can be countered, guarantees to give you CA, and with a high enough (x) cost can put your opponent on top draw. Thoughtseize is just amazing, but not if you are trying to keep a budget. So if you don't mind spending the extra money, Thoughtseize is a must. I would add Cyclonic Rift though, since it combos real well with Reap Intellect and/or Slaughter Games . You can bounce one thing at the end of their turn and exile it on yours. Or if you have a lot of mana, overload it to bounce everything. Then, exile all their main set pieces or the biggest threats.

Actually, next time when you use slaughter games, target their Sphinx's Revelation first, knocks out their major draw and life gain then you can go for everything else with the rest of the Slaughter Games . I've had it done on me and it was devastating! And true you are trying to keep to a budget, my mistake, have you tried maybe running 2 more Consuming Aberration s, since they'll net you more mill?

Rioji in my old 30$ budget mill I ran 4x Consuming Aberration , but they never seemed to give me that big of a board presence since they were so easily picked off. That's where I was hoping to test in some Lord of the Void in and I'm waiting to get all of my Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver to see how we'll their exile return to play is. I'm hoping to get lucky and pull at least 1 Thoughtseize and I will buy the second. If you guys would wana play test it out or pass it along I could use some serious help with this because I'm pretty sure it will be able to make a strong presence in my FNM meta

I like that you're trying to break Realmwright , great idea.

The only thing i don't like about Realmwright is that he can be killed a little to easy, it seems like a wasted slot when you can just add a bit more red land to the deck, other than that, great deck! :) And great job placing 2nd! XD

Rioji that was last weeks FNM I just haven't had the time to put the match descriptions up and forgot to update the title haha. unfortunately the deck was run without 1 of the Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver 's and had a play set of Temple of Deceit rather than the play set of Watery Grave . I'm going to try to put up a detailed description of how it ran and all In between class and internship tonight.

fluffybunnypants surprisingly Realmwright has worked better than I could have ever expected! And with Crypt Ghast out it makes for some devastating combos. Realmwright and Crypt Ghast flew under the radar for the first game and then during the second was somewhat harder to defend but luckily that combo is only one of the win cons.

I'm thinking of putting a couple Glaring Spotlight in to help protect those 2

alrighty, sooo i really like the realmwright interaction with crypt ghast. Extort should help keep you afloat a while longer, and mana doubling in blue black is very good for a solid mind grind. Have you considered Duskmantle Guildmage? with memory adept out, that's mill 10 lose 10. (I mean, if you prefer just milling them, I completely understand.) Anyway, I'd say run one slaughter games in the main alongside reap intellect. that way you have diversity between the two spells and you can decide yourself which you like more! I'm not the biggest fan of crypt incursion right now, since my local store is almost entirely control decks with few creatures (yours may be different and if it works, that's great!) Dimir charm isn't my favorite card, but it is versatile (but restricted versatility).If possible, I'd suggest trying to pick up a copy or two of hero's downfall, since it takes care of creatures and planeswalkers that may be causing you trouble. Another card to consider is Far//Away. I'd say that it's possible to remove a copy of crypt incursion, a grisly spectacle, and a dimir charm and then play with other balances to find what you like. Anger of the Gods is fantastic, albeit you may want an additional red source to ensure you can cast it. Thank you so much for asking me to take a look at this deck! Good luck with it and happy brewing!!!

maybe a Notion Thief or two to stop those that try to draw into an answer...works against other possible control decks

teslamon I like the idea.. It was in my original mill deck so to be honest I don't know how it didn't make it to here. I think I would take the Steam Augury out for em

it's very powerful against the almighty Sphinx's Revelation