The deck is clunky for standard as it relies on having an early game, or to not die and hit enough land for a late game. For a somewhat competitive standard you'll either have to cut the end game dragons for something like Thundermaw Hellkite or Hellrider , or you'll have to go all into those expensive dragons and cut your small creatures and little mill cipher plan for mana excellerants, board wipes, more land, and more counterspells.

The cipher isn't for the mill, it's to exile for nivmagus and the damage from guttersnipe. Being unemployed I can't even think about Thundermaw Hellkite . My standard can be competitive, but I've been going 2/2 regularly on a homebrew involving Sigarda, Host of Herons , card:Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, hardcasted Avacyn, Angel of Hope , and 8/8 elemental tokens. As long as I can keep my title of "good but too proud to follow the mainstream" I'm happy, lol. Plus my local gameshop does swiss, not single elimination, and no cut to top eight. Anyone who wins at least one goes home with a pack per win.

But I do thank you for fhe suggestions. :)

i ran Grixis Control last night at my FNM, I placed 3rd overall, but my list took a differant approach then yours, you have a high creature count over me. i use 5 creatures over all Snapcaster Mage x 3 and Augur of Bolas x2. i used a heavy PW count. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker x1 Jace, Memory Adept x 1 Jace, Architect of Thought x2 Liliana of the Veil x2 and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage x2. PW's for the win over all is what i experianced. high PW count is always fun, cause you can grid lock them where they cant do ANYTHING. my favorate game for the night was when i dropped tamiyo, then nicol bolas ..... tap a land , destroy a land, .... to fun.

I agree, but that's getting close to 300 dollars worth of cards I would need to add, where I've built this on a budget with the help of friends.Glad your Grixis served you well though! :) Glad to see folks still playing the colors.

heck yeah man! no doubt, it was a pretty expensive deck, but i literally do not spend money on MTG. always trade up in value. that is how ive built my collection. its my little red paper clip trick.a little cunstructive critisism tho, i do not think that the invisible stalkers are the right fit for the deck. w/o beef, there just little 1/1s .... annoting yes, but i thing you will get a better use out of something like augur of bolas in there and then run more control elements. i used alot of spot/mass removal ( cyclonic rift is a must for the deck) and if you can manage to get your hands on any jace, achitect of thoughts, there a great toolbox card to work with te augur

1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker 2 Liliana of the Veil 1 Jace, Memory Adept 2 Jace, Architect of Thought 2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Augur of Bolas 3 Cyclonic Rift 2 Pillar of Flame 1 Rakdos Keyrune 2 Negate 1 Dissipate 2 Izzet Charm 3 Think Twice 1 Chromatic Lantern 2 Ultimate Price 2 Bonfire of the Damned 2 Counterflux 25 land

this was my list

Meh, I'm not a giant fan of removal, and my combo requires something that's definitely going to hit. Nivmagus goes out turn one, the the stalkers, then cipher the stalkers and start exiling the copies made by cipher for a bigger nivmagus. Throw guttersnipe out asap to do damage every time it's cast and lend extra power to rakdos' return and counterflux. Counterflux protects my stuff, hands of binding taps down big threats, late game Niv Mizzet and Nicol Bolas finish the job if they're still alive. It's almost always a turn five or six kill, if I don't cast extra instants and sorceries for damage with guttersnipe.

*control, not removal, my typing fingers are stupid today.

Also, everyone always checks value around here. TT-TT I have two friends that'll just give me cards they're not going to use. The best value trade I've made is a Skyknight Legionnaire for a Skullcrack , and a Rest in Peace for a Nicol Bolas. sigh No charity around here.