Thanks a ton to you both!
Re: some of your points
- Not sure about 22 lands. I've been experimenting with 21 vs. 22, but as this deck is now, it's really cheap and I usually start discarding opponent's cards v. quickly, which means that usually games are quite long, which means that even if I'm out of luck the mana comes my way eventually. I'll give it another shot though.
- Definitely agree about Cabal Stronghold - started designing this deck as a mono-black, and this is a leftover. Should swap it for a guildgate or Detection Tower.
- Chemister's Insight - true, much better than sift, it's just that I hesitated to spend a wildcard as currently I've only one copy. But at the very least should swap out one of the Sifts.
- Thought Erasure - again, I've only two copies, but I also kinda like how Divest/Duress are single mana cost spells. Thinking back on my games I do think I should swap Duress into main rather than Divest as I struggle with removal on the planeswalker/enchantment front more than with creatures.
- Vraska's - got only one of those, and found it frustratingly unreliable this way. Also, while the card is very good, it's also 4 mana and I tried to keep the expensive spells as limited as possible.
- Discovery/Dispersal - True, but wildcards etc. But it's deffo on my wishlist.
- Golden Demise - no copies, again
- Moment of Craving - I've some common wildcards, will consider
- Djinn - not sure what I was thinking when I sideboarded that. :D
The way this deck currently works is it really pushes the discard tempo and is very cheap. Unless my starting hand is really terrible, I can get most decks stripped of their initial strong plays, or build up a manascrew. Unless I'm unlucky, the opponent is discarding all the fucking time.
- Selective Snare is a token army counter, or generally a hard counter to any decks that rely on creature types. You can wipe the board with this - and it's still useful against decks that don't run counters on multiple occasions. Honestly I was surprised at how versatile this card is, and it's really cheap. The card alone won me at least 3 games already I think.
- Entrancing Melody - it had its uses, though I agree I should find better options there. It's already expensive and I could get a big body on the board for that mana.
- Demons - yeah, I should get them in.
- Disdainful Stroke - why do you consider the card so good? If you pay one mana more, you get sabotage or cancel. For big bodies I already have Etratas, Plaguewalkers, not to mention tons of discard.
- Eldest Reborn - I've played against plenty of decks running that and it would fit really nicely, but I haven't a single copy there
- Reassembling Skellies and Burglar Rats - yeah, they're chaff for plagueswalkers, early pressure and chump blocking. Skellies are actually pretty amazing at the pricetag. Jason - why do you rate those poorly? 2 skeletons in a deck are excellent value for money, I think - work well with sacrifices, chump blocking, early game pressure. They often become Vraska targets, which is a net gain in terms of mana spent. For 2 mana it's a really good deal.
- Nightveil Sprites - I'm surprised you rate those poorly. 1/2 flying with surveil for 2 mana? These are excellent creatures for an early draw, and it's a synergy point with campaigns.
- Running 4 campaigns - don't you find it too many? I've had bad experiences with running 3 campaigns in this deck, already, and cut down to 2. Played plenty of games against Dimir decks where too many campaign draws screwed them, as once the game is well developed, the campaign is basically "pay 3 to draw 1".
- Dimir Skybug and Thoughtbound Phantasms - The Skybugs could be swapped for something better indeed, I think. Re: the phantasms, I've limited good options for the 1 mana slot and they're quite decent.
- Whisper Agents - will give it a think.
- Forerunner and helm wouldn't fit this deck - one is white, the helm is way too expensive for this one. Would run a Lazav but don't have one
Generally your (Jason's) advice seems to be leaning to push the deck towards a much different mana curve, which is an option, but would alter the deck very significantly.
I'll probably post the updated list in a few days.