I don't know. i dropped Life from the Loam, because the 2 mana cost was hard to pull off in my dredge.

Played 4 rounds last night and this is how it turned out.

Round 1: Terastodon Iona Oath

Game 1
first three turns was me countering and bouncing oath, and me swinging with 1/1 spirt tokens. I'm out of cards, and i miss my chance to top.  Drew the Sphinx, and passed the turn, expecting a loss within 3 turns.  He plays show and tell.....he drops a Terastodon, and I play my Sphinx.  Next turn he scoops.

Game 2
I  bounce oath twice while holding on to a tinker. He finally drops oath, and then he counters my tinker. His oath goes off and down to the very last card, which was Iona. He wasn't playing with Blessing, and he accidentally boarded out Terastodon. Milled by oath....it didn't feel like a win at all.


Round 2: Jenky R/U/g/w zoo

Game 1
A quick tinker, and i was able to out race him with a sphinx and a trinket mage.

Game 2
After a long game of my bounce and counter, and his swords/lightning helix, i manage to tutor for the grindstone and win.

Round 3: B/W Dark Depths

Game 1
I have to press the panic button, and Mystical for a chain of vapor to deal with his Marit Lage. My Sphinx swings twice, and then it's removed.  I manage to slip in with a confidant and a mage a couple of times for lethal damage.

Game 2
His vampire nighthawk made my Inkwell just sit there and look dumb, and I just could not find a card to deal with his null rod. I trample over killing both the nighthawk and the Inkwell, and then he just sworms me with vampires for the win

Time is called, and we tie

Round 4: B/W control/zoo.

Both games i couldn't deal with 3 and 4 3/3's a turn, and i lose both games.

I came in 5th, and I'd have to say that the MVP was Echoing Truth.  I may have over used it a little bit after it saved my ass, but i wouldn't of won 3/4 of those games without it.  The ass hole of the deck was Hurkyl's Recall.  Sat in my hand most matches, and then never made itself available when needed.

Now i wanted to kind of dialog with a few of the responses.


Do you really think a full play set of Trinket Mages is a solid idea? I love them, but not that much.

I want to run Engineered Explosives so bad,and did a one time, but i'm trying very hard to keep it U/B.  The 2 mana or less limit, was having a hard time cutting the mustard.

I still not a 100% about Lim-Dul's Vault, but i want to try a few more times to really see what it can do.

In my meta there's 2-3 Dredge players in my meta, including me some times, so i keep Tormod's Crypt main deck for at least some tech. Also for a little bit of Oath or Goblin welder control. Plus it's a cheep, useful, <1 casting cost, artifact.

2 main deck Echoing Truths is a great idea.

I tested with 4 Confidants, and it felt like they where coming up too often.  Any Dark Tezz build only uses 3 as well. So it's staying at 3.

Dropping a grindstone is the right way to go, but i'm not sure what to replace it with. Pithing Needle...?


Drains are on the shopping list, so that'll drop the leaks.

I wanted to keep the mana curve on this deck as low a possible to have quick an snappy disruption/combo, and keep Confidant's bite to an minimum.  Sadly, I chose to drop Gifts Ungiven and Fact or Fiction.  I decided a while ago that until i get a few more pieces of power, those two cards are a little too far out of my mana range to be efficient.

I've played a lot of different builds that used REB and Pyroblast, and i've found out this. Your opponent will NOT allow you to have 3-6 badass counterspell/vindicate.  That makes a valuable combo asset public enemy #1, and that poor little scarecrow is not that hard to dispatch.  The best you can  hope for when it comes to abusing painter's ability, is when you pitch a land for Force of Will's cost.  So play RED like normal, just blue spells and permanents.  Problem is that my meta is like the results above.  All you need to add are a few mud players, dredge, and maybe one or two playing oath or noble fish.  In sort, i don't see it working to well for me.  At least not until i start seeing more than one or two Force of Will the entire night.


I started with two main, until i started going up against Lodestone Golem a lot more, or have 4 useless cards against Dredge.  Plus i was having trouble getting enough blue cards to pitch to Force of Will.



Thanks for tanking the time to suggest things everyone.

I only have the Mox Sapphire, and i'm working on getting a few drains.

Creatures:
Painter's Servant 4
Dark Confidant 3
Trinket Mage 2
Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1

Instants:
Brainstorm 1
Chain of Vapor 1
Diabolic Edict 1
Echoing Truth 1
Force of Will 4
Hurkyl's Recall 1
Mana Leak 2
Misdirection 1
Mystical Tutor 1
Spell Pierce 2
Thirst for Knowledge 1
Vampiric Tutor 1
Lim-Dul's Vault 1

Sorcery:
Demonic Tutor 1
Ponder 1
Thoughtseize 2
Tinker 1
Yawgmoth's Will 1

Artifacts:
Grindstone 2
Mana Crypt 1
Mana Vault 1
Lotus Petal 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Sensei's Divining Top 2
Sol Ring 1
Tormod's Crypt 1

Land:
Academy Ruins 1
Island 3
Misty Rainforest 2
Polluted Delta 2
Scalding Tarn 2
Strip mine 1
Tolarian Academy 1
Underground Sea 4

Sideboard:
Inkwell Leviathan 1
Tormod's Crypt 1
Relic of Progenitus 1
Pithing Needle 2
Deathmark 2
Massacre 2
Ravenous Trap 1
Stifle 2
Echoing Truth 1
hurkyl's Recall 2

I'm open to any idea's you may have.