That's a dangerous reach considering Dark Ritual (although with the alternate cost you could just remove the ritual aswell).

If the alternative casting cost stays, I think the manacost deserves to be at least if not to match the Alliances cycle.

Even though the use of this card is perhaps a little narrow, it should not be undercosted because it has the potential to create great card advantage (or disadvantage, to be more accurate). Remember that even with a regular draw turn draw, Shared Agony can trade 2 and 1 life for 2 (cards).

A few things:

1. Manabase

As your combo relies on mostly colorless mana, including the best accelerants is advised. You are lacking Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, which I would definitely include. Off-color Moxen, on the other hand provide only little acceleration when your ability to refill your hand is weak. Hence, I would replace them.

Since you also play black, why not play Dark Rituals? They don't provide you mana over several turns, but they allow for a quick setup of the combo early.

2. Card choices

- Yawgmoth's Will is arguably the most broken card in Vintage. It's hard to think of a reason it should not be included; especially if you add Dark Rituals.

- Stifles not only help disrupt your opponent, they are also great in manipulating your Illusions: you can stifle the Cumulative Upkeep or leaves play ability, allowing you more mana or a supply of life when you just can't cope without it.

- Echoing Truth is good, but you should consider Wipe Away for two reasons: it has a different casting cost which is good against Chalice Of The Void, and it can't be countered or responded to, which is a considerable asset. One of the best applications for bounce in Trix is forcing your Illusions to leave play once donated before your opponent manages to win or get around it. I recommend playing 2 and 2. I should also mention that Chain Of Vapor is another good bounce, but less useful as you don't want to play it when you have not yet donated your inflated ego.

- Fact Or Fiction is delicious with powerful colorless mana accelerants such as the almighty Mana Drain. As the restricted one-off it is, you should have no reason to omit this card. As your opponent rarely knows what you hold in your hand, choosing how to divide the stacks becomes difficult for them if a combo piece or several are involved. FoF works great as both digging for quality and drawing for advantage.

- Commandeer offers riches, but more often than not fails to deliver. In a two color deck having the resources to cast it is not likely enough. Additionally, you don't want to get rid of your blue cards. You'd rather counter the spell than have a random spell that would benefit your opponent's strategy but rarely yours. As such, you will most likely notice pitching it to FoW than actually casting it. I recommend replacing it with FoF.

- Impulse has not seen much play recently outside High Tide variants, most notably Solidarity, but it may well deserve a spot in Trix. Slots for additional cards are rare in a two color version, though, so there may not be room for spontaneous digging of this kind. It deserved to be mentioned, however.

3. Additional suggestions

As an additional way to get DSC into play, or save a mana from Illusions, you could play Show And Tell. With many maindeck bounce spells, even random threats dropping could be dealt with. If played, two sounds the best amount to me.

I would also like to say that I think that the best philosophy for a Trix is more combo-oriented, not control. Tutors and browsing over a drawing engine. And I have to admit, with 4 FoW, 4 Mana Drain and 4 Duress, disruption and enforcement are already aplenty to combat control.

I searched for rulings on Worship and found this:


Source: Results For "Ask The Virtual Judge" At StarCity, Your Keyword: "Worship"

For reference:

Worship

Enchantment
If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.

Platinum Angel

Artifact Creature - Angel
4/4
Flying
You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game.

I would assume Angel's Grace works the same way, unless any recent addition or change to rules affects this.

Does this mean that Suspend cards without a mana cost can be played using Dream Halls?

Dream Halls

Enchantment
Rather than pay the mana cost for a nonartifact spell, its controller may discard a card that shares a color with that spell.
Within without.

Like Largent said, concising your deck to 60 cards is vital. That is because every deck has a strategy and needs consistency in drawing essential cards.

Looking at your list I think the deck is suffering from indecisiveness - does it want to be a LD (land destruction) deck, Void, Sui or something else?

Regardless of strategy, the weakest cards in your list are the following because they are either inefficient on their own or do not suit the strategy:

1 x Demonic Hordes
4 x Mole Worms
2 x Worms of the Earth
2 x Word Of Command
4 x Rhystic Tutor
2 x Death Grip
2 x Gloom
2 x Terror
2 x Underworld Dreams
4 x Drain Life

To me the rest of your deck looks much like a Nether Void deck, which is a course I recommend if you like mana denial. I recommend you read Zherbus' primer (part 1, part 2, part 3) to better understand how the deck works and which cards to use and why.

Here's the first decklist from the primer:


Obviously if you stay casual and do not aim for competitiveness, you may make adjustments according to personal preference.

Another route in which you can take your deck is a Megrim based deck with heavy discard. Such a deck could look something like this (I used to play this casually):

Dark Dreams.dec

Spells (35)

4 Duress
4 Hymn To Tourach
4 Night's Whisper
3 Innocent Blood

3 Megrim
3 Chains of Mephistopheles
3 Underworld Dreams

4 Anvil Of Bogardan
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Memory Jar

1 Mind Twist
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor

Manasources (25)

14 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring

Hope I gave you some ideas as to how to improve your deck. You should also look into Sui Black as an option if you want to take an aggressive route with disruption and a tendency to hurt oneself.

I think Suspend might have some potential with cards like Balance, Cataclysm and Mindslicer. Not broken, though, but at least not completely useless.

Ancestral Vision is certainly interesting, and could perhaps provide a card drawing engine in a control deck. I don't, however, think it has a place in Vintage as it is, on it's own (without synergy, that is). But, nonetheless, I really like the card.

Official on Suspend:


Source: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/aa245 ("RULES-IN-A-BOX")

Full technical rules for suspend: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr245 (scroll down)

Is it even possible for a card to get the same ability multiple times? Obviously this interaction with the card itself could be avoided by wording it to "the next instant spell", excluding sorceries and thus itself. However, resolving two of these is not an easy feat, and with that amount of mana there is a lot else game winning available (like Urza's Rage Forked if that floats one's boat).

I don't think it breaks that easily. At least with a mana cost of 6 converted, including two colored. Unlike for example Mind's Desire, this card does nothing by itself. You'll need the mana to actually cast the spell you want to break. I also made it sorcery so that it would not be broken in Solidarity. Also, you'll need at least a land, lotus, ritual to play this first turn plus the mana for the actual spell.

Considering you can win off Tendrils with a storm count of 10 and 4 mana which can be paid with rituals, a card requiring mana more difficult to get, costing more and requiring another card to function hardly seems that broken, really. Even if you intend to win off something as simple as Lightning Bolt, you will need 5 prior spells and a total of 7 mana, including two blue and one red - and, of course, two cards.

I'm thinking Insist and Overmaster. Obviously the cost has to be significantly higher since Storm breaks effects, but the wording could stay:

Ancestral Wisdom

Sorcery
The next instant or sorcery spell you play this turn has Storm (When you play that spell, copy it for each spell played before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
Sometimes the calm before the storm can take generations.

That was an intended drawback in my version. Also, if you play any disenchant or permanent sacrifice effects such as Seal Of Cleansing, suicide becomes much less attractive an option for the opponent.

First of all this would be broken with Final Fortune, which does not target. Secondly, is your intention also to prevent you from losing the game from loss of life? Also, if your intention is to prevent mana burn, not having your pool empty is way too powerful a way.

Here's some modifications:

Alternate Universe

Enchantment

If you would win the game, instead you lose the game. If you would lose the game, instead you win the game unless your life total is less than 1. You can't play instant or sorcery spells and you don't take mana burn.

Perhaps this is missing your original intention, though - let me know.

Ruleswise I don't think having creatures gain Suspend would work as it would require them to be in their owners' hands:


Here's an attempt to reword the card to work within the rules, and minor changes to balance:

Parallax Vortex

Instant
As an additional cost to play Parallax Vortex, discard X cards.
Remove X target creatures with power no greater than X + 1 from the game and put X Time Counters on each of them. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a Time Counter from each creature removed this way. When you can't, each player returns to play all cards he or she owns removed from the game with Parallax Vortex.

There probably isn't room for a flavour text, I'm afraid. Also, notice that it doesn't say up to X, so it's not that good for single creatures (same as Firestorm). I added the power limitation as an imitation of Firestorm which can't deal with bigger creatures without larger investment either and for balance in general.

Not at all. 

I would suggest replacing the fourth Meditation in MD with a Twincast as it can most of the time enforce the facet you lack in (drawing or mana). It will also be a valuable card in Sideboard. In this variation I should think Twincast is even better since you also have Ancestral and Spiral to target. A second one at least in sideboard could also be considered.

I'm also not convinced of the usefulness of Mox Sapphire - you need at least 3 to 4 Islands to kick off, and drawing one or a drawing spell is in my opinion in most situations better. Having mana for a first turn Remand or slightly accelerated thinning and drawing early is of course useful, but the deck relies on having enough of the essential cards (Islands, High Tide, drawing and Reset/Turnabout) and since Sapphire does not substitute an Island, it's essentially minus one important card for setting up the conditions for winning. Also generally as Solidarity relies on land drops, it can't abuse mana acceleration well - the drawing cards are cheap and 3-5 turns provides plenty of Island-generated mana to make use of them even if they are in hand aplenty.

Black Lotus is obviously similar, but the acceleration it provides is better so I would leave it in, at least until I've tested it properly.

If you anticipate a lot of Tendrils based decks, Stifle on SB might also be worth considering. Getting Duressed may hit that FoW rather than the Cunning Wish that can save you.

How about something similar to Oblation?


Divine Authority
Instant
Shuffle all spells into their owners' libraries (those spells are removed from the stack). The controllers of those spells may draw a card for each spell shuffled this way. Players cannot play spells until end of turn.
"It takes but one word from the right mouth to silence everything from the flap of a butterfly's wing to a roaring thunder."

Do you insist on having it able to net you multiple turns? Adding a self-sacrificial cost would enable lowering it's other costs, for example:

Time Distortion

Enchantment
Whenever an opponent successfully casts a spell, you may put a time counter on Time Distortion.
Remove 4 time counters from Time Distortion; Sacrifice Time Distortion: Take an extra turn after this one.
"When time is of essence, make it into a substance.''

Of course, this reminds me of Mystic Remora. If this was made the same way, it would look something like this:

Chronos Vapor

Enchantment
Cumulative upkeep
Whenever an opponent plays a spell, you may put a time counter on Chronos Vapor unless he or she pays .
Remove three time counters from Chronos Vapor: Take another turn after this one.
"It's not about how long you can hold your breath but how long it can hold you."

As I understood your original concept, this guy was touched by darkness, which led him to adapt unorthodox methods. Initially there was no implication for continuous growth, even though from the beginning it had the skill to learn from it's enemies. Learning from enemies and growing in strength, though, are in my opinion essentially different, which is why I resent those abilities on this guy. You could alter my suggestion by making the mana cost W/BW, allowing it to be paid completely in white. Then it could be reworded: "When ~ comes into play, if you paid black mana to play ~, it has Shadow and can block creatures without Shadow". So purely in white it would still be a WW 2/2 with Vigilance which is not bad.

How about: "Remove all counters from ~: Regenerate ~. Use this ability only if ~ has one or more counters on it." That way it would always be returned to a 1/1 after regenerating but it could be killed when it had no counters (no resources for growth) and still be regenerated with just one counter.

I like the regeneration ability better than dying and being replaced by another tree (note: not returning back from the grave). It makes more sense, even though replacement would also work albeit being more complicated.

I would say it's pretty hard to kill with the ability to regenerate with one removal of a counter, but if you want to make it practically immortal, you could change the regeneration ability to: "When ~ is put into a graveyard from play, you may put a token into play that's a copy of ~". To not have the new tree come into play with counters, you would have to reword the other ability: "If you played it from your hand, ~ comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it."

Afterall, the Treefolk does not regenerate but is replaced by a new tree, right?

I don't quite like the idea of strength and toughness increases on this guy. I don't think he was meant to grow stronger, and his experience and unorthodox methods would be better implemented in another way.

I think the mana cost should include both white and black. His pursuits are good but his methods are questionable. And as he is essentially both, the cost would have to be paid with both.

Here's my suggestion:

Grey Knight
WB
2/2
Shadow; Vigilance; Grey Knight can block creatures without Shadow.
"The shadows must be cleansed from within." -X, Knight of the Y

Although Soltari have Shadow, it feels much more like a black ability - or a shroud if you will. I guess you could describe it as 'a touch of darkness' which is why I think it would suit someone living a life in between the spectrum of light and darkness well. Vigilance, as a white ability reflects his goodness and experience. And the last ability is due to his dual nature (moves in the shadows at night, valiantly protects the brotherhood by day?).

It's also keeping it rather simple, and - in my opinion - balanced.

I believe the proper wording is: "~this~ comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it."

As a compromise between removing two counters and removing all of them, I suggest removing one counter as the regeneration cost. It would mean sacrificing one turn's growth to stay alive, and allow for the Treefolk to be destroyed if being hammered persistently enough. Being able to lend infite growth to regenerate is unrealistic, and two counters would mean it could not regenerate once per turn and as such function as a reliable blocker for bigger creatures.

I think the name also needs a revision. Return does not fit anymore and would suit a non-creature spell better in the first place. How about Sprouting Treefolk for simple yet describing a name?

Studies and research are generally associated with drawing whereas search effects tend to be tutors or search (Frantic Search). I could imagine a tutor that teaches to the highest bidder - an "Unbiased Tutor" or "Neutral Tutor", although admittely neither sounds that cool. Unreliable, Public, Selective, Ambitious (does not settle for a low casting cost)?

I quite like it. The flavour could be simply "Know your enemy." which is only used on Overrun but in a different way, or "It pays to do your homework" or something in similar vein. The name of the card could also be Scroll, Book or Tome of Preparation or Observation or similar to symbolize gathered intelligence (on the opponent), which is the idea of the card's function.

I don't think it's that broken the way it is, really. If you want to entomb, your target will most likely be of high casting cost since getting it to your graveyard to play it cheaper than from your hand is the point, but choosing a card with high casting cost will likely result in it ending up in your hand instead. Then again, if you want to use it as a tutor, your chances of getting to keep good spells like Ancestral Recall, Timewalk or Tinker are low.

The best target for this tutor would most likely be Force Of Will (or Misdirection), but even that is not so unbalanced since there is often a good chance the opponent will get one, too resulting in neither getting a card.

Considering the risks I'd say this is actually rather balanced. There might, of course, be something I'm missing - in which case I'm glad to have someone point it out.

First of all, 6 mana is a lot for an artifact (or anything, really). It would probably not see any play unless it was 5 or less. The cost to use the ability is also quite high, and the mechanic awkward. I don't think it should be a creature either - it's a box!

But I've drafted two alternate versions of what it could be like:

Puzzle Box
5
Artifact
T: Roll a 6-sided die:
1: Sacrifice Puzzle Box
2: You gain 3 life
3: Puzzle Box deals 2 damage to target creature or player
4: Draw a card
5: Put a 1/1 green rabbit creature token into play under your control
6: Each player sacrifices a permanent
If you don't know what you want, your wish will be granted -Box inscription

Puzzle Box
5
Artifact
GGG: Put a 1/1 green rabbit creature token into play under your control
RRR: Puzzle Box deals 2 damage to target creature or player
BBB: Each player sacrifices a permanent
WWW: You gain 3 life
"One puzzle you can put together in a thousand different ways."

I don't want Word Of Command built in, but your second suggestion sounds good. The name of the card would in that case be better as "Unwanted Gift" instead of spoils which was more suiting when the spell could target permanents. Obviously the mana cost needs to be revised aswell. I'm not sure if 3UU or 4UU is more reasonable, but I'll go with the latter for now. Possible brokenness for 5-6 mana requiring another card is not unthinkable, although another option would be to include a drawback allowing the casting cost to be decreased - for example making only say white and blue spells targettable while only costing 3-4 mana.

The goal is to give the opponent an unadvantageous card, which people rarely play, and force him or her to play it. Would it abide by the rules if I added this to the end of my suggested wording:

That card can be chosen as though it were in his or her hand.

Fair enough.


That is actually a good idea. How about something like this:

If target spell or permanent would be put into a graveyard this turn, instead remove it from the game. As long as it remains removed, target opponent may play it as though it were in his or her hand.

With this wording, however, it would not be possible to play the card with Word Of Command. It would still work for Mindslaver, though.

Unwanted Spoils
1U
Instant
If target spell or permanent would be put into a graveyard this turn, instead put it into target opponent's hand.
"I think you dropped something."

The idea of this card is to allow more diverse use for cards like Word Of Command and Mindslaver. Currently there are no cards (at least to my knowledge) that allow cards to be put into the hand of a player that does not own them. The card could also be used to avoid certain cards such as Academy Rector from reaching the graveyard or manipulate an opponent's hand size for one's own benefit (albeit rarely of much use).

Having only an opponent targettable prevents the card from being used as a simple buyback spell. Since there is no counter or cantrip effect, the manacost seems appropriate for it's relatively narrow use. I admit that this card's applications are rare, and as such another effect or a more allowing wording could be considered. What do you think?


Current version

Unwanted Gift
4UU
Instant
Target opponent gains control of target spell you control.
"I think you dropped something."