When I think about the deck tech to feature for this weekly column, my usual routine is to through the cards from a recently released set and evaluates its potential interactions with other cards in Standard. One example when Sire of Insanity was released, wherein I built around a deck that benefit when you play with empty hands.

My deck feature for today is about a mythic card which has convinced me to build a control deck with Blue on its colors. That card is Master of Cruelties. Here is the decklist:

Grixis Cruelties
Standard

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

Creatures
2 Augur of Bolas
4 Master of Cruelties
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Snapcaster Mage

Spells
2 Turn/Burn
1 Liliana of the Veil
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Rakdos’s Return
4 Think Twice
2 Dreadbore
2 Searing Spear
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Counterflux
2 Dissipate
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Far/Away

Grixis Control is still a viable deck in Standard and has been proven by Patrick Chapin in GP Miami. Though it’s not of the same specific strategy, the core components are similar. Black is the deck’s main color, followed by Blue and Red.
Most of the cards focus on creature control and card advantage, but also on setting up Master of Cruelties to end the game. We have Jace and Forbidden Alchemy to dig for the Demon, aside from the usual Think Twice. There are only three counterspells but a single Rakdos’s Return helps in trumping decks that tapped out for a threat or walker. Messing on opponents hand is always fun (as I’ve learned from Jund).

Liliana of the Veil and Far/Away are your removals for Bant Hexproof and Pillar of Flame as support against Voice of Resurgence and Strangleroot Geist. Dreadbore is your best option removal for any critter in the meta that aren’t indestructible or hexproof, and fend off opposing Planeswalkers.

The other creatures I’ve added in the list are the usual choice for blue based control decks, Augur of Bolas and Snappy. I’ve considered Olivia Voldaren because she’s a standalone removal/finisher, and you need outlet for your extra mana in the late game.

I’ve checked on the Nephalia Drownyard strategy, but considering the colored mana intensive nature of the deck, I abandoned it.

That’s about for Grixis Cruelties, the deck tech for this week’s Marked for Standard. All comments are appreciated so I’d like to hear your thoughts on the deck.

Until next post.