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In general mono black is a very good deck.  The caveat is it's only very good in the hands of a good player.  An inexperienced or bad player will notice the deck under performs markedly so.

Owen Turtenwald with channel fireball has been piloting the decks in the big tournaments I suggest you read his articles.

Some general play advice for the deck though.  It's a 1-1 grind.  You need to appropriately answer all your opponents threats with the 1-1 removal you have at your disposal. If you answer a threat with the wrong card, it could definitely come back to haunt you later. It's a constant check on what's on the board/hand to see if you can maintain the currently state and only using your removal when it's appropriate.  At some point during the game you will be able to turn a corner and take over the match by using underworld connections to bury them in card advantage or desecration demon/pack rat for board advantage. 

Also, don't be afraid to go all in on pack rat, it's a strong play in the format and mutavault synergies with it very well.  Against some decks though before you can take over with pack rat you'll get extremely low on life/resources so it can be unnerving at first, but you'll have to get a feel for when it's right to go all in.

that's a deck too...

um, idk, I never liked ral zerik, he's a 4 mana lightning strike with some wonky other abilities that don't pan out in the real world.  Chandra is just red jace in this deck which is fine. this might be a better meta deck for you though since it appears to represent more board control. 4 slot seems clogged though

Drown in sorry isn't as good as anger really it only does -2.  The other one does -3, and to mobs with the same name,  so it's a little better agains agro/GR.  idk... though have to test.

I'd like to say, i really like the "idea" of grixis, but, idk if it can work... that being said.

The deck looks like it has what it needs, wipes for aggro, ways to interact with gods and blood baron,  I think you're a little soft to control, but you said that's not a factor in your meta.

UW has 12 cards that draw for it, you're lacking a couple, and izzet charm doen'st really draw it cycles your hand. 

I might be worried about running out of steam.  I think if anything you're lacking in that department with this deck, but I'm not sure what there is in those colors to boost your draw power.  Read the Bones perhaps?  it hurts you more but it digs 4 cards.  Also, an opportunity or 2 would be the worst thing, or even steam augury.

I would also play an elixir and maybe one of the side, it's 5 life, which you'll need in the deck, and it can recycle cards your discarding with izzet charm and augury if you choose to play it. you are hurting yourself a lot with thoughtseize and the shocks... 

I might look into alternate forms of life gain... idk what that would be though. Aggro or burn might be able to get there against you just because of the lack of life gain.

At this point, diminishing life totals for games is not abstract, it's the norm.  I really don't follow this line of reasoning at all and it certainly doesn't make the deck any more effective because cards are physical things and life totals are just representations/concepts.

Scores in sports games are just concepts too, but I bet the broncos felt pretty bad last night  

Milling has not, will not and will never be the most effective way to end a game. _period_  There's just no arguing the point.

This is why GW aura's is a better idea if you want to try, that, some naturally hexproof creatures in those colors and the new big guy that gives everyone hexproof.

I bet the seeded pack does have theros in it, at least commons/uncommons

white and blue together are usually about control.  White carries some of the best board wipes around and blue had great tempo/permission cards.   

I'd say you're looking to make a deck where you control the game then play something big to win? 

It should contain some things from your collection like

TNN, jace, gideon, propaganda, strategic planning, control magic, ponder, wash out, dissolve,  augur of bolas, arcane denial, faerie conclave, blue sun zenith, dismiss.... you see the pattern.

You need to control the board with efficient removal/control and board wipes then stick something big to seal the deal.  other cards to consider picking up would be supreme verdict, sphinx's revelation, detention sphere, think twice, aetherling, terminus, etc etc...

Save yourself the agony of defeat and don't play mill

If you're not an experienced player, i would even suggest shying away from mono black, it's a powerful deck in the hands of a great player, mediocre in the hands of an average player and so on.  It's extremely punishing for play mistakes and produces grindy matchups.  IDK if the new cards from BTG will change that, but just letting you know buyer beware.

When I hear someone is going to play tome scour maindeck it makes me question their sanity.

In order for this plan to work you still have to assume you're opponent will do nothing in order for you to win. Splashing blue is fine in mono black, i tried it to some success, with ashiok, dimir charm and things like gainsay on the side. 

I can even see splashing for a single phenax when he's legal, but the traumatize and tome scours are still bad... ashiok is enough mill if you want that, along with phenax.  I would still only suggest that plan if control is heavy in your meta.  If not then you just lose out hard to an aggro shell.

I could potentially trade for a couple jace, AoT, if you're willing.

Welll.... off hand I'm not a fan of the deck, I see what you're trying to do and it seems good on paper, but execution with these cards leaves a lot to be desired.  cipher is only about 1/4th of a card better than an enchant when it comes to getting 2 for oned.  You get some dumpy effect that doesn't do a lot and then you "enchant" a creature with it.  Then a lot of times it just gets removed.  You lose the investment in mana for the creature and the cipher (because all the cipher cards are over costed).

Dimir charm is very good in the format and you're including zero, devour flesh stops a lot of cards you'd have trouble interacting with like blood baron.

Counter spells aren't terrible, but you're not going to be holding mana open to play them while you drop your cipher cards and your creatures.  The plays are working against each other in that way.

I have some questions for you, looking at your inventory, you have 3 muta vaults, a hero's downfall, erebos, nykthos, temple of silence, lifebane zombie, whip of erebos, none of which are in your deck lists? each and everyone of of these cards is better than any 2 cards you currently have in the deck, minus the temples.  You're hedging towards monoblack which is a much stronger deck.  I can't understand why you wouldn't just try that instead.