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I bought a similar amount of Dragon's Maze.  I was upset at the lack of Blood Baron's that I pulled...you know, second to wasting $500.

If you'd like to unload some of your uncommons and bulk rares for similar-type Dragon's Maze cards, hit me up!

I agree.  I'm not a Ral Zarek fan either.  He's too much of an aggro card to be UR.  Perhaps if the Inspired mechanic was more viable he'd be better.

This list suffers from card advantage problems too.  I get that Planeswalkers are indirect card advantage, but this group doesn't do enough to advance my board state or get me closer to a win condition to get me interested.

I'd really like to play Chandra and Prognostic Sphinx together, but that's way too slow.

The Sorcery speed of Dreadbore is what makes it meh.  Ideally, I don't want to cast anything on my turn that isn't a board wipe, Rakdos's Return or Aetherling.

I agree that I'm basing this off the "idea" of Grixis control.  There are just so many flexible and good answers in the color suite though that I can't help but work on it.

I think the life loss is a real issue.  However, I think a big part of my inability to stabilize soon enough was the lack of board wipe spells.  Needs more Anger (said like Christopher Walken).  Elixir is something I've thought about too.

Here's the original list that I tested:

4 Frostburn Weird
2 Aetherling
1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Syncopate
4 Izzet Charm
2 Far // Away
3 Turn // Burn
3 Steam Augury
3 Dimir Charm
4 Thoughtseize
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Divination
1 Rakdos's Return
4 Blood Crypt
6 Island
3 Mountain
1 Izzet Guildgate
3 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Watery Grave

What I learned:
- Ashiok - very swingy.  An all-star in some games and a waste of a card in others.  probably win-more. CUT
- Niv-Mizzet - awesome against all of the x/1 creatures in the format, but doesn't affect the board until the turn AFTER he comes down.  Weak win condition.  Good theory, poor execution. CUT
- Dimir Charm - not as effective as I expected, but I didn't play either monoU or monoB with lots of 2/x guys.  The digging aspect was not good.  I mis-calculated it. CUT
- Far // Away - meh.  Not as flexible as I wanted it to be.  Perhaps better against BW. CUT 1
- Turn // Burn - Awesome.  Always liked having it in my hand.  ADD 1
- Izzet Charm - solid.  2 damage was relevant and cycling was pretty effective.
- Steam Augury - It usually hit and created issues for my opponents, but too sporatic.  CUT - ADD Jace, AOT
- Syncopate - mostly dead.  I'd rather just have a hard counter. CUT - ADD Dissolve
- Frostburn Weird - Awesome.  Stopped all x/1 creatures; survives Anger; combos with Turn // Burn on turn 3.

- The deck needed more spot removal that didn't cost 5.  ADD Dreadbore
- I only cast one Anger of the Gods and it was super effective.  ADD more
- The deck was really weak to Soldier of the Pantheon since most spells are multi-colored.

Ah yes, life gain.  The second huge trap that new players fall into.

If this is what you like to do, and it works in your play group, then do what you want.  As long as you're having fun, that's all that matters.

Try and get yourself some alternate win conditions, like Jace's Phantasm or Azorius Keyrune.  Something that helps your mill strategy, but lets you deal damage if that would be a faster way to win.

I don't understand the obsession either. 

A buddy and I play-tested a Phenax strategy on Saturday night against Esper control and BW Control...it sucked.  I think he won 2 games out of 12.

Here's a reminder why you use top-loaders, and consider taping the cards to the envelope.

I'm glad I got these safe and sound!

Bump.  Trade me your draft rares for some Beck // Call.

I want to play Grixis in Standard too.  Let me know what you come up with.  Here's a list I put together a few weeks ago, tested a little bit againts RB Aggro and Esper Humans, then tweaked.

http://deckbox.org/sets/561067

I agree with all of the comments made so far.

Your strategy should be to kill all of your opponents creatures and counter all of his spells, then mill him out when he has nothing left to do.

I agree with Pilfered Plans, Psychic Strike and removal.  Far // Away, Devour Flesh, Doom Blade and Dissolve are all inexpensive removal/counters.  Finish them off with Mirko Vosk.