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It's all good.  Typically I'm a believer that outside of Falkenrath Aristocrat, Hellrider belongs in every red deck's four drop.  BUT, that said, the rider seeks to capitalize on having a bunch of little guys that trigger and do extra damage.  If the deck is premised on things like Champion of the Parish, Thatcher Revolt and Hellrider, I'm all on board.  But given the current mid-range build he's looking at, I can see where Firemane offers a bit more flexibility with the evasion, possible creature removal, AND it gets both anthem effects from Legion's Initiative.

But aside from that, yeah, I agree that he's in playtest and tweak mode now.

The only real way to keep them in check while setting up your unblockables (as they're typically pretty fragile creatures) would be to incorporate a lot of control elements - counters and removal.  Thankfully both those are well supported in U/B; however, as you're going to discover, the cipher spells, outside of Hands of Blinding and Stolen Identity are really just too expensive to really be competitive in any situation.

Best luck with it, but keep in mind that everyone's saying it won't work for a reason.  That's not to discourage you, but just to remind you to stay realistic about the success the deck will experience.

As much as I like the card, Primordial Hydra is a pretty shaky win-con on its own without some sort of protection or backup.  To that end, you definitely want to up the count of Hydras to 4x if that's your primary means of attack.  Then you'll need a way to protect it.  This can be done in a variety of ways, but the best bet would be to give it hexproof - you can achieve this via Sheltering Word, Ranger's Guile, or even Alpha Authority if you're looking for a more permanent solution.

Then the question becomes, are the hydras your main objective?  If so, then you can play purely defensively for them.  Then you would keep Fog, Deadly Recluse, Ambush Viper, Druid's Deliverance/Terrifying Presence/Moonmist to play defensively.  But then all your apples are in one basket - typically not a good idea.

As such, I would suggest going to more of a mono-green aggro strategy that INCLUDES the hydras, but doesn't rely on them nearly as much.  If that's the case, you'll want as many value green creatures as possible.  Experiment One, Strangleroot Geist, Arbor Elf (ramping never hurts!), Primordial Hydra, Deadbridge Goliath, Thragtusk and items of the like.

I guess I could look into a set of staples, but really EDH decks are going to be highly dependent on the sorts of things the deck is trying to do.  So to that end, is there really a core list of 25-50 staples?  If anyone has a link, I'll definitely look it over.

I'll dig around, but I'm thinking it might make more sense to have an intro sticky with a few pointers here or there.  I can add a set of staples after that, but I think most of those will come up in more specific deck discussions.

Would people prefer that a more general EDH sticky be created with the restricted/ban list and rules for general EDH play?

Then general EDH deck discussions would occur in the forum with EDH labels (which could be added after the fact in the event people omit them) for more directed discussion.

Thoughts?

I'm with you that it already has Mirko, I was simply saying if milling is the plan, you should keep him in there.  Every little bit helps.  But definitely don't expect him to mill them out on his own.

Don't forget the more standard fare mill items if you want to run that route.  By this I mean Hedron Crab, Mind Sculpt, Thought Scour, Glimpse the Unthinkable (if you want to break the bank), Breaking//Entering, Psychic Spiral, Sands of Delirium, Traumatize (this one is particularly effective), Jace's Erasure, etc.

You can also abuse draw effects if you have Jace's Erasure - so things like Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, etc. will help you mill them pretty heavily while also replenishing your hand.  It could also pair rather amusingly with Notion Thief and Whispering Madness as they would discard their whole hand, you draw 5-7 cards, and they mill another 5-7 cards.

Another nasty combo, although a bit too cheap for my liking, is to pair Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind with Curiosity.  Then, every time you draw a card, Niv triggers, so you draw, and Niv triggers, and you repeat until the game is over.

I don't know that I'd think of red as being a means for counterspells.  If you're after counters, especially in EDH, you can do a LOT better than Double Negative.  Perhaps you could use red for some added card draw (via looter effects like Nivix Guildmage, Mad Prophet, or Rummaging Goblin) and then for copying spells to maximize effect - so I'm thinking Dual Casting (which works wonders when paired with Blistercoil Weird), any version of Chandra, and things of that nature.

I'd stay away from electromancer or Guttersnipe unless you're really aiming to make the deck more spell oriented - otherwise they'll just be 2/2s in a world of much larger stuff the majority of the time.

Obviously casual play is a lot easier to get moving as your deck can be far less consistent and that's okay.  But, if you're going for casual play, there really aren't that many suggestions that can be offered as everything will vary tremendously based on how competitive your casual play group is, how good their decks are, the sorts of things they're doing, etc.

The best suggestion I could give with regard to getting more familiar with the game is to try some sealed events first.  Sure, they draw on a different skillset than constructed play, but they have three added benefits.  First, what is in your collection is irrelevant - everyone has a level playing field depending on what they pull.  Second, there is a MAJOR premium on deckbuilding.  It might seem simple, but getting the correct 23-24 cards to 17-18 lands to make that ideal 40-41 card deck is quite the challenge.  Sealed would not only help you familiarize yourself with the deckbuilding process, but it also puts you in a room with several other players who can help if/when you're struggling.  Third, sealed events help you learn about playing strategies (based on what your deck looks like) while also adding to your collection in the process, in turn helping you for constructed events in the future.

To that end, I would suggest trying to find drafts or sealed events at stores nearby and attending those.  If you're not comfortable with a draft just yet, just sit in and watch each player and what they're taking.  Then observe the deckbuilding process and how the games play out.  Ask people if you have questions, but keep in mind that they don't want to disclose their colors/cards during the draft process and then their hands during play (but questions about a particular play they made or something like that after a game is over are often helpful).  You can also do draft simulations on sites like Tappedout.net to familiarize yourself with what a draft might look like and how it might play out.  Then, once you're comfortable, these will likely be the more rewarding, amusing events - as opposed to trying competitive constructed play, where, I'm sorry to say, you're likely going to lose most, if not all of your games (which isn't much fun).

For EDH, keep in mind that milling is an extremely difficult strategy as you have to mill 80-90 some odd cards, not just the normal 45 you would have to in normal constructed.

Now, that in mind, there are a variety of fun things you can do with Grixis colors.  First off, non-PW Nicol Bolas is hands-down better than Crosis, the Purger as a general.  He's only one more to cast, is a 7/7 as opposed to a 6/6, and guarantees that they drop their entire hand if he ever connects.

A few milling cards to consider:

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker: If you're running Grixis, you might as well run this little fella, but keep in mind that your opponent(s) will likely be running 30+ land, making him a bit underwhelming in most situations.

Consuming Aberration: The key here is that it mills ALL your opponents with each trigger and, assuming you're playing more standard EDH with 3-4 players, that means it ends up milling a LOT of cards and can become an enormous threat on its own.

Keening Stone: This is one most people forget about, but it can easily win the game with 4-6 triggers, even in an EDH setting.

Increasing Confusion: Lots of milling, and it can be huge late game when flashed back.  This works wonders when combined with Doubling Cube.

Keep in mind that you'll likely need ways to exile particular cards like the legendary Eldrazi.  These are commonplace in EDH and make it impossible for your strategy to work because of their shuffling the yard back into the deck triggers.

Other items to consider:

Crazy card drawing.  If you can setup a lot of card drawing, then you'll get more options for milling them or otherwise can cost them a ton of cards if they need to discard their hand in response to Mr. Bolas' attack.

To that end, Reforge the Soul, Whispering Madness, and other things to that end are huge.  They can also serve as indirect board wipes when paired with Aetherize (I can say it's hilarious to hose someone's huge attack and then cast whispering madness, causing them to discard all of their stuff and allowing you to draw a ton of cards).

As many board wipes as possible.  Even more so than in normal constructed play, EDH players LOOOVE to clog the board (as I'm sure you're already aware).  So to that end, the degree to which you can clear out everything the better.

Mizzium Mortars, Earthquake, Magmaquake, Pyroclasm, Flame Wave, Rolling Temblor - all of these are viable options as long as creatures don't end up too large - at which point red is at a disadvantage anyway.

I'll openly admit that red is the color that frequently finds itself on the weak side of Grixis given the more unconditional removal available to black and card draw available to blue.  Perhaps some treason style effects would be useful depending on your local matchups.

Feel free to take a look at my Grixis EDH.  I'm normally pretty successful with it, although I'm just playing casually.  The deck is viewable at http://deckbox.org/sets/328755.

You're going to need to give us a bit more than that.  What format are you aiming for?  Is this for competitive play or casual play?  What sort of budget are you sitting on?  Do you just want all the possibilities or should we limit things to your inventory?  Are there particular cards/combos that you're more fond of than others?

Remember, the more input you can give us, the better your feedback will be.

FNM = Friday Night Magic.  Typically a moderately competitive environment where players meet for tournaments at Local Gaming Stores (LGS) once a week.

RG = Red/Green, referring to your color choices.  U = blue, B = black, R = red, G = green, W = white.  Also note that people will refer to color pairings by their guild affiliations with Ravnica or triple-color groupings by their shard names from the Alara block.  As such the pairings are on the following pages:

Guild Pairings:
http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Guilds_of_Ravnica

Alara Shards:
http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Shards_of_Alara

Alternately, I would suggest tinkering around on the wiki for a bit to familiarize yourself with things.

If you were to toss in Amulet of Vigor...