Dovescape is certainly challenging to play around if it gets in play. I'm not sure the Good-Stuff-Rare version would fare any better against it. You either counter it or hope someone else in the game can deal with it.
Be careful not to make your deck too inbred against specific cards or decks. Being too focused may leave you with very narrow and dead cards versus other decks. If you anticipate certain strategies or cards from your opponents plan ahead. Save removal or countermagic for the key cards that could cause problems. Ruric & Ob Nixilis should be easy to deal with given all the removal already in the deck. Same with Stranglehold providing it doesn't come out too early. But even then the deck has a good amount of draw to hopefully find the removal or bounce you need to get around it.
Played with the pauper version and outlast 2 other players, with final showdown against a player with Kessig Cage breaker in play.
I made a mistake of casting Faith's Fetters on his Cage Breaker, followed by Sea Gate Oracle, netting me Demonic tutor, for Echoing truth against his wolf tokens, but with no mana left to cast it.
I should cast Sea Gate Oracle, to draw a card first, and leave mana open for Echoing truth.
Moral(for a noob like me) : Draw cards first before doing other things, this leaves us with more options.
Seems that I wont have to use a rare deck against my group anytime soon, until I can improve my skills.
Thanks for the deck list again !
It's certainly a good card in the right environment but my playgroup is not very creature heavy so it would be a little iffy there. In most cases when I do encounter a deck with a whole lot of creatures it's in the form of a few cards that produce a lot tokens which Dawn Charm & Echoing Truth are strong against while being versatile enough against other strategies to hold their spots in the deck.
In somewhat related news I've been goldfishing a few changes to the deck that I've been impressed with. I hope to get some actual games in with later this week to see how the changes stand up in actual games before I post an update. Suffice to say one should never discount what you've already tried simply because it didn't work out in the past.
Been playing this a lot the last few weeks and am starting to like it a lot. Very interested in seeing how your testing of certain ideas worked out and the changes you've been working on.
Edit: Ghostly Flicker could also be an infinite mana win condition.
These cards are not awful on their own and you are already playing some of them.
There is a lot of redundancy with this concept in Pauper Momir Vig with land enchantments, creatures that untap lands, other repeatable untaps (Galvanic Alchemist/Crab Umbra), Orochi Leafcaller, creatures that tap for 2 or more mana (e.g. Axebane Guardian), etc.
I've considered several combo finishes for the deck in the past but I've never been satisfied with any of them. The sticking point I have with all of them is that the key combo card tends to be sub-par on its own. Tidewater Minion has a little utility with Merieke but without her or Freed from the Real AND Dimir Aqueduct in play it's just a dumpy blocker. And even with access to infinite mana I would still have to shoehorn in another combo specific win condition that without infinite mana would again be sub-par. I could use Tidewater Minion to gain infinite life with Overrule and then Crypt Rats everybody else but if I wanted to dedicate extra space to additional redundant combo pieces for the deck, as the Momir Vig decks do, I would have to cut removal, counter magic, & general utility cards that are much stronger on their own. I can test it and see what happens but I don't have much faith that it will be optimal.
//EDIT: (January 29th, 2015) - Quietly updating my list in the original post with what I've been testing lately. I've slayed a few sacred cows by cutting Cadaver Imp & Rush of Knowledge but I feel both Mind Stone & Dimir Signet will be at least a little better (overall) than the former. Especially when behind early. Rush of Knowledge in particular has felt like a win-more card some time. To me at least. And while Cadaver Imp was a Flicker target late game it was overkill in most cases along side the five other creature recursion cards in the deck. Victim of Night is a slight step up from Doom Blade versus the 1200+ black creatures that aren't Vampires, Werewolves, or Zombies. Dimir Aqueduct has been good in the deck. Still not a fan of the other Esper bounce lands or Signets. They are really unnecessary mid & late game. Dimir Signet & Mind Stone mitigate those awkward late game draws by at least tapping for the two primary colors of the deck & cycling respectively.
Hey Zombie Shakes, just checking in to see if you've done anything with the lit recently. Not sure if any of the exploit creatures in Dragons appealed to you or not. I also remember you mentioning something about possibly revamping some stuff, but wasn't sure if you did. I'd love to hear how the deck is doing.
I am still working mostly with the January build mentioned above. None of the exploit creatures from Dragons of Tarkir stood out for this deck but I am testing Fate Forgotten over Dismantling Blow. Having another instant speed option to the Theros Gods is good and it's also been proven helpful versus artifact creatures with death triggers like Wurmcoil Engine.
I'd still like to squeeze a few more lands into the deck but I'm not sure what to cut. I think the deck could make due with less creature recursion spells but I like the utility of the ones I'm running.
-----------
//EDIT: (May 2nd, 2015) - One tweak I'm testing is refining the mana base a little bit by cutting a Plains & a Swamp for an 11th Island & Grixis Panorama. Both d0su's & urdjur's recent updates to their signature Child of Alara lists made me realize there was further room to improve this deck's mana base in similar fashion and this is a minor step in that direction.
Thoughts on Fate Forgotten over e biggest Revoke Existence? I know gods are some of the biggest problems when playing pauper, so having an instant Revoke Existence that can be fetched up by Mystical Teachings seems pretty solid. I know it is competing with Dismantling Blow, but the exile factor seems potentially worth it.
Yeah, testing so far with both Revoke Existence & Fate Forgotten has gone well. Having an answer to indestructibles that I can transmute for at either 2cc or 3cc makes both of them worth it. Here's the latest list:
Any particular reason you are running Darksteel Ingot over Commander's Sphere?
For similar reasons to what d0su articulated for his latest build of Child. I didn't want both & felt it being indestructible was worth more than a cantrip in this deck. As it stands, I rarely sacrifice Mind Stone unless I'm digging for an answer to a must counter threat and/or I know what's already on the top of my deck because of cards like Halimar Depths, Foresee, Ponder, Preordain, or Brainstorm.
You could but then you wouldn't be able to enchant non-creature permanents. Particularly planeswalkers or utility lands. If you would rather have another dedicated creature kill spell in the deck you would probably be better off with an instant like Rend Flesh.
Updating my original post with the latest list I've been testing.
I've cut Mind Stone & Grim Harvest in favor of Orzhov & Azorius Signet. The additional ramp is marginal but the color fixing, especially early, has been helpful. I'm still not a big fan of the mana rocks available for Pauper but they are a necessary evil. Cards like Contamination, Naked Singularity, and Blood Moon see play so best to be prepared. Cutting Grim Harvest was tough but I felt the deck had one too many recursion spells & something had to go. While strong, it was challenging to keep up with at times & the versatility of the other recursion put this at the bottom of the list.
In addition to the above changes I swapped out the colored Artifact lands for two basics & Darksteel Citadel. The deck does a good job of mana fixing as it is and in most cases the artifact lands were more of a liability than something I grabbed with Trinket Mage. Darksteel Citadel is there in cases where I just need to hit another land drop the turn I cast Trinket Mage.
Perplex is a great early counter and good against blue decks, where as Grim Harvest can be tough to keep up with when you are trying to keep your blink engine fueled up.
Perplex is a great early counter and good against blue decks, where as Grim Harvest can be tough to keep up with when you are trying to keep your blink engine fueled up.
It's no joke. Perplex is more versatile than Grim Harvest. A hard counter early and a tutor late. And in this deck versatility is paramount. Being a toolbox control deck in Esper colors there are a lot of quality recursion spells even when just limited to commons. So we have to pick & choose. For me, for the way I play, I like Grim Discovery more than Grim Harvest. I've played this deck for years with both and recent changes finally brought things to a head where I felt I had to tighten up on the creature recursion. Land D, discard, and mill are things I encounter regularly but even aside from those particular strategies this deck does benefit from being able to recur lands which is why I sided with Discovery over Harvest. I even tested keeping Grim Harvest over Reaping the Graves but against board wipes not having access to a recursion spell that could hit multiple targets proved to be challenging. Chalk it up to play style if you want but I am more comfortable playing without it at the moment.
Granted. By "early" I'm referring to the first five or so turns of the game where opponents are still developing their board presence & have a decent sized hand. One they don't want to discard in favor of the spell Perplex is targeting. Even late game with additional countermagic or removal as backup Perplex can still serve as a counter simply to empty an opponent's hand and give you perfect information. As you said it's a matter of taste.
How would you change your deck in order to keep it only for Dimir colors, i.e. U/B? Or even mono blue. I am thinking of Arcanis, the Omnipotent
In both cases I would add more bounce spells and countermagic. Into the Roil, Cyclonic Rift, Exclude, and Negate would be top of the list. Reality Acid along with a few cards to bounce it like Dream Stalker & Ancestral Statue would also help Dimir deal with threats. I would also take advantage of the space by adding more draw spells like Rhystic Study, Consult the Necrosages, and/or Divination. The latter two aren't going to get a lot of upvotes but are decent top decks in the late game when Rhystic Study might not draw you cards.
Looking through the BFZ list... Scour from Existence ? Kinda pricey mana wise, but works with the engine, and it hits anything, even lands, and even hits Animar.
It is something I've been considering but haven't had an opportunity to test yet. While it's a strong silver bullet, I'm not sure the extra mana compared to the current removal is worth it. It's probably better positioned in the Child decks because of their ramp.
Updating my list with what I've been testing lately. Here's a rundown of the changes.
- Twisted Abomination
- Faith's Fetters
+ Grixis Panorama
+ Mind Stone
Twisted Abomination was swapped out for Grixis Panorama because in most cases he was just there to search for Swamps & feed the creature recursion spells. I would really only cast him when I needed a blocker, was out of Swamps, or was already in a winning position. Even late game, spending 6 at sorcery speed while trying to keep additional mana up for reactive spells was challenging. Truth be told, there have been plenty of occasions where I've won with the "Blue-Bear-Beatdown™" without ever drawing him.
I also wanted an additional 2cc mana rock to further improve upon the deck's mana base and that could serve as a direct replacement for Sol Ring for those playing with an upgraded version of the deck. Mind Stone was in the deck previously and while I rarely used its sac+draw ability having that as an option is a good thing. I also tested Prismatic Lens for its filter ability and found it handy early when I needed another mana of a certain color but obviously it wasn't as good of a top deck as Mind Stone late game. Thought Vessel was another consideration but its effect feels like a win-more in most situations. If you play regularly against Jin-Gitaxias or any sort of HowlingMine.dec it might be worthwhile.
I did test the addition of Cloud of Faeries to the Ghostly Flicker end game but found it challenging to assemble. Multiple bouncelands early were (again) awkward and without access to green's ramp, as Urdjur's Child deck has, setting up the combo was a much slower process. And in most cases, when I got to that point I was already winning anyway so I sided with a more stable build rather than something that didn't contribute as much along the way. Bouncelands already have a big target on their heads with things like Land D or Terastodon so more was not always better.
In discussing the combo version with Urdjur, he felt Faith's Fetters was still needed but I disagree. While good on some occasions it was clunky the rest of the time. Oblivion Ring is still a good catch all to most of the same permanents Faith's Fetters would target so I'm comfortable with this slot being another mana rock. If you feel the need to still play it, you can run it in Patrician's Scorn's spot. One minor plus to not running Faith's Fetters is that the deck now has an easy out to a resolved Possibility Storm (yes, its happened).
So here's the new list in full. Thanks for reading.
-------------------
//EDIT: February 22, 2016 UPDATE.
Minor update to the list I've been playing with since the update to the Mulligan rule.
- Mind Stone
- Dimir House Guard
+ Prismatic Lens
+ Snow-Covered Island (38th land)
As I mentioned in the original portion of this post, Prismatic Lens is better than Mind Stone early when mana fixing is more important. Drawing a card later in the game seems a little greedy for a deck like this. Lens also lets me filter mana mid & late game for things like Crypt Rats. Finally having a 38th land back in the deck has help make the new Mulligan rule a bit easier. I haven't missed Dimir House Guard yet. I can still find mid game cards like Teachings, Scorn, & Archaeomancer through other means.
Be careful not to make your deck too inbred against specific cards or decks. Being too focused may leave you with very narrow and dead cards versus other decks. If you anticipate certain strategies or cards from your opponents plan ahead. Save removal or countermagic for the key cards that could cause problems. Ruric & Ob Nixilis should be easy to deal with given all the removal already in the deck. Same with Stranglehold providing it doesn't come out too early. But even then the deck has a good amount of draw to hopefully find the removal or bounce you need to get around it.
Hope to try the rare deck against them and see how it goes .
I made a mistake of casting Faith's Fetters on his Cage Breaker, followed by Sea Gate Oracle, netting me Demonic tutor, for Echoing truth against his wolf tokens, but with no mana left to cast it.
I should cast Sea Gate Oracle, to draw a card first, and leave mana open for Echoing truth.
Moral(for a noob like me) : Draw cards first before doing other things, this leaves us with more options.
Seems that I wont have to use a rare deck against my group anytime soon, until I can improve my skills.
Thanks for the deck list again !
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
In somewhat related news I've been goldfishing a few changes to the deck that I've been impressed with. I hope to get some actual games in with later this week to see how the changes stand up in actual games before I post an update. Suffice to say one should never discount what you've already tried simply because it didn't work out in the past.
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
Tidewater Minion + Freed from the Real + Dimir Aqueduct/Azorius Chancery/High Tide + Drain Life/Capsize/Overrule/Train of Thought?
Edit: Ghostly Flicker could also be an infinite mana win condition.
These cards are not awful on their own and you are already playing some of them.
There is a lot of redundancy with this concept in Pauper Momir Vig with land enchantments, creatures that untap lands, other repeatable untaps (Galvanic Alchemist/Crab Umbra), Orochi Leafcaller, creatures that tap for 2 or more mana (e.g. Axebane Guardian), etc.
//EDIT: (January 29th, 2015) - Quietly updating my list in the original post with what I've been testing lately. I've slayed a few sacred cows by cutting Cadaver Imp & Rush of Knowledge but I feel both Mind Stone & Dimir Signet will be at least a little better (overall) than the former. Especially when behind early. Rush of Knowledge in particular has felt like a win-more card some time. To me at least. And while Cadaver Imp was a Flicker target late game it was overkill in most cases along side the five other creature recursion cards in the deck. Victim of Night is a slight step up from Doom Blade versus the 1200+ black creatures that aren't Vampires, Werewolves, or Zombies. Dimir Aqueduct has been good in the deck. Still not a fan of the other Esper bounce lands or Signets. They are really unnecessary mid & late game. Dimir Signet & Mind Stone mitigate those awkward late game draws by at least tapping for the two primary colors of the deck & cycling respectively.
Regardless, thanks for reading!
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
I'd still like to squeeze a few more lands into the deck but I'm not sure what to cut. I think the deck could make due with less creature recursion spells but I like the utility of the ones I'm running.
-----------
//EDIT: (May 2nd, 2015) - One tweak I'm testing is refining the mana base a little bit by cutting a Plains & a Swamp for an 11th Island & Grixis Panorama. Both d0su's & urdjur's recent updates to their signature Child of Alara lists made me realize there was further room to improve this deck's mana base in similar fashion and this is a minor step in that direction.
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
1 Merieke Ri Berit
//Creatures 14
1 Vedalken Æthermage
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Rimewind Taskmage
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Trinket Mage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Crypt Rats
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Mulldrifter
1 Twisted Abomination
//Card Draw & Search 10
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Impulse
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Foresee
1 Deep Analysis
1 Mystical Teachings
//Bounce, Removal, Utility 19
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Victim of Night
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Murder
1 Unmake
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Shred Memory
1 Revoke Existence
1 Fate Forgotten
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Echoing Truth
1 Capsize
1 Freed from the Real
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Dawn Charm
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Mine Excavation
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Grim Discovery
1 Grim Harvest
1 Reaping the Graves
//Countermagic 8
1 Overrule
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Perplex
1 Traumatic Visions
//Mana Fixing 6
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Expedition Map
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Mind Stone
1 Dimir Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
//Land 36
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Esper Panorama
1 Command Tower
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Rupture Spire
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Ancient Den
1 Halimar Depths
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Strip Mine
1 Snow-Covered Plains
5 Snow-Covered Swamp
11 Snow-Covered Island
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
I've cut Mind Stone & Grim Harvest in favor of Orzhov & Azorius Signet. The additional ramp is marginal but the color fixing, especially early, has been helpful. I'm still not a big fan of the mana rocks available for Pauper but they are a necessary evil. Cards like Contamination, Naked Singularity, and Blood Moon see play so best to be prepared. Cutting Grim Harvest was tough but I felt the deck had one too many recursion spells & something had to go. While strong, it was challenging to keep up with at times & the versatility of the other recursion put this at the bottom of the list.
In addition to the above changes I swapped out the colored Artifact lands for two basics & Darksteel Citadel. The deck does a good job of mana fixing as it is and in most cases the artifact lands were more of a liability than something I grabbed with Trinket Mage. Darksteel Citadel is there in cases where I just need to hit another land drop the turn I cast Trinket Mage.
Here's the new list in full:
Updated July 25, 2015.
1 Merieke Ri Berit
//Creatures 14
1 Vedalken Æthermage
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Rimewind Taskmage
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Trinket Mage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Crypt Rats
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Mulldrifter
1 Twisted Abomination
//Card Draw & Search 10
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Impulse
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Foresee
1 Deep Analysis
1 Mystical Teachings
//Bounce, Removal, Utility 19
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Victim of Night
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Murder
1 Unmake
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Shred Memory
1 Revoke Existence
1 Fate Forgotten
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Echoing Truth
1 Capsize
1 Freed from the Real
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Dawn Charm
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Mine Excavation
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Grim Discovery
1 Reaping the Graves
//Countermagic 8
1 Overrule
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Perplex
1 Traumatic Visions
//Mana Fixing 7
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Expedition Map
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Dimir Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Azorius Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
//Land 36
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Esper Panorama
1 Command Tower
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Rupture Spire
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Halimar Depths
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Strip Mine
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Snow-Covered Plains
5 Snow-Covered Swamp
12 Snow-Covered Island
http://deck.tk/6nSx3mzQ
Thanks for reading!
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
It's no joke. Perplex is more versatile than Grim Harvest. A hard counter early and a tutor late. And in this deck versatility is paramount. Being a toolbox control deck in Esper colors there are a lot of quality recursion spells even when just limited to commons. So we have to pick & choose. For me, for the way I play, I like Grim Discovery more than Grim Harvest. I've played this deck for years with both and recent changes finally brought things to a head where I felt I had to tighten up on the creature recursion. Land D, discard, and mill are things I encounter regularly but even aside from those particular strategies this deck does benefit from being able to recur lands which is why I sided with Discovery over Harvest. I even tested keeping Grim Harvest over Reaping the Graves but against board wipes not having access to a recursion spell that could hit multiple targets proved to be challenging. Chalk it up to play style if you want but I am more comfortable playing without it at the moment.
//EDIT: Grammar
In both cases I would add more bounce spells and countermagic. Into the Roil, Cyclonic Rift, Exclude, and Negate would be top of the list. Reality Acid along with a few cards to bounce it like Dream Stalker & Ancestral Statue would also help Dimir deal with threats. I would also take advantage of the space by adding more draw spells like Rhystic Study, Consult the Necrosages, and/or Divination. The latter two aren't going to get a lot of upvotes but are decent top decks in the late game when Rhystic Study might not draw you cards.
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
Good job!
- Twisted Abomination
- Faith's Fetters
+ Grixis Panorama
+ Mind Stone
Twisted Abomination was swapped out for Grixis Panorama because in most cases he was just there to search for Swamps & feed the creature recursion spells. I would really only cast him when I needed a blocker, was out of Swamps, or was already in a winning position. Even late game, spending 6 at sorcery speed while trying to keep additional mana up for reactive spells was challenging. Truth be told, there have been plenty of occasions where I've won with the "Blue-Bear-Beatdown™" without ever drawing him.
I also wanted an additional 2cc mana rock to further improve upon the deck's mana base and that could serve as a direct replacement for Sol Ring for those playing with an upgraded version of the deck. Mind Stone was in the deck previously and while I rarely used its sac+draw ability having that as an option is a good thing. I also tested Prismatic Lens for its filter ability and found it handy early when I needed another mana of a certain color but obviously it wasn't as good of a top deck as Mind Stone late game. Thought Vessel was another consideration but its effect feels like a win-more in most situations. If you play regularly against Jin-Gitaxias or any sort of HowlingMine.dec it might be worthwhile.
I did test the addition of Cloud of Faeries to the Ghostly Flicker end game but found it challenging to assemble. Multiple bouncelands early were (again) awkward and without access to green's ramp, as Urdjur's Child deck has, setting up the combo was a much slower process. And in most cases, when I got to that point I was already winning anyway so I sided with a more stable build rather than something that didn't contribute as much along the way. Bouncelands already have a big target on their heads with things like Land D or Terastodon so more was not always better.
In discussing the combo version with Urdjur, he felt Faith's Fetters was still needed but I disagree. While good on some occasions it was clunky the rest of the time. Oblivion Ring is still a good catch all to most of the same permanents Faith's Fetters would target so I'm comfortable with this slot being another mana rock. If you feel the need to still play it, you can run it in Patrician's Scorn's spot. One minor plus to not running Faith's Fetters is that the deck now has an easy out to a resolved Possibility Storm (yes, its happened).
So here's the new list in full. Thanks for reading.
-------------------
//EDIT: February 22, 2016 UPDATE.
Minor update to the list I've been playing with since the update to the Mulligan rule.
- Mind Stone
- Dimir House Guard
+ Prismatic Lens
+ Snow-Covered Island (38th land)
As I mentioned in the original portion of this post, Prismatic Lens is better than Mind Stone early when mana fixing is more important. Drawing a card later in the game seems a little greedy for a deck like this. Lens also lets me filter mana mid & late game for things like Crypt Rats. Finally having a 38th land back in the deck has help make the new Mulligan rule a bit easier. I haven't missed Dimir House Guard yet. I can still find mid game cards like Teachings, Scorn, & Archaeomancer through other means.
1 Merieke Ri Berit
//Creatures 12
1 Vedalken Æthermage
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Rimewind Taskmage
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Trinket Mage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Crypt Rats
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Mulldrifter
//Card Draw & Search 10
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Impulse
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Foresee
1 Deep Analysis
1 Mystical Teachings
//Bounce, Removal, Utility 18
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Victim of Night
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Murder
1 Unmake
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Shred Memory
1 Revoke Existence
1 Fate Forgotten
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Echoing Truth
1 Capsize
1 Freed from the Real
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Dawn Charm
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Mine Excavation
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Grim Discovery
1 Reaping the Graves
//Countermagic 8
1 Overrule
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Perplex
1 Traumatic Visions
//Mana Fixing 8
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Expedition Map
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Dimir Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Azorius Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
//Land 38
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Halimar Depths
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Strip Mine
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Snow-Covered Plains
5 Snow-Covered Swamp
13 Snow-Covered Island
http://deck.tk/6lPw6yJb
As always thanks for reading.