I'd like to see Painter's Servant back. There's a few combos around it, but nothing more powerful than, say, Rest in Peace can do. Unless I'm missing something.
Have you tried just killing them? You've got Knight and Stoneforge/Batterskull to destroy aggro decks. Just swords anything your guys can't handle and stomp their heads in.
That mana base isn't going to work. If you're running three colors, you want some sort of dual lands. Even guild gates and the like are better than nothing.
The aggressive game play is to feed your 5 mana on turn one into an Ad Nauseum, and win the game on the spot.
Spending 3 cards and five mana to make them discard 4 only puts you up one card. If we're willing to spend five mana to gain a single card advantage, why not just run Divination.
grizelbrand is also more suspectible to removal and no to forget,karakas is repeatable.
being a creature makes a huge difference(you can reanimate him),so I'm not sure should bargain be unbanned.
But when not sure leave as it is seams like a best option,cause it would be bad to legalize something just to have it banned after a few months.
Mana drain in a deck like miracles would be too much.
Mind twist is ok to unban,it's a relic.
If you're pointing removal at a Griselbrand, you've probably already lost the game.
Mind Twist has a niche, it would see some play. It's not going to tear up the format. Card is seriously good in Matches between fair decks.
Have you considered brainstorm for your selection? It's pretty good on Scepter, and you can use it to set up Narset's +1 ability. And, you know, all the other stupid stuff brainstorm can be used for...
Another option is Treasure Hunt, if you end up upping your land count. Would work well with brainstorm as well...
Memory Lapse looks pretty sweet, especially on Scepter. You could basically cause a soft lock, where they can't play anything (because then they'll just keep drawing the same card) for a while. I'm a huge fan of Mana Leak, but if you're regularly going into the lategame without the game being decided, then it definitely loses it's luster.
I don't really see Hindering Light doing much for you that negate wouldn't. You don't really care that much if your opponent goes after your permanents, and Revelation will undo a lot of Burn spells. It draws a card, but it also takes two colors of mana, which means you can't always count on it being online turn two.
The only thing I can really think of to help you out is some sort of cheap way to hold creatures off early game, until you can start blowing up the board. I don't know that it's actually something you need with Scepter/swords available, but it could be an issue, depending on your meta.
Also, I knwo that you said you've already tried Aetherling, but I'm going to recommend him anyways. He's nice to have around as a one-off in control decks, as that one guy that just straight up can't be stopped.
Force of Will is fine even against non-combo decks, really. The idea behind it is that you get to curve out into your threats (scepter-chant or planeswalker here) without having to worry about them landing a game breaking threat once you tap out. That said, this is casual, and 100 dollar cards usually end up getting cut.
Anyways:
23 lands seems pretty low for a deck that wants to be casting six mana planeswalkers. I would seriously consider going up to 24-26 lands. You really want to be making your land drops each turn until late in the game, when you can start powering out huge Revelations and Decrees. Also, storage lands are a trap. They're terrible, terrible cards, and I strongly recommend just dropping them. It doesn't tap for colored mana, costs two mana to charge (it has to tap itself also), and it even costs mana to use it's effect. Just run enough lands in the first place, and you don't have to hassle with cards like that.
12 Counterspells is almost certainly overkill. I would recommend dropping the Render Silents. By the time you can cast it, you're really going to want to be responding to their threats with Verdicts. Also, it's too expensive to go on the scepter. I do understand why you dislike Mana Leak, but it's actually an amazingly good card. The mana requirements are lower, for those times you find yourself without double blue mana on turn two; and by the time your opponents can afford to pay three, you should already have taken over the game.
B.S Computer Science (Haven't been able to bring myself to go back for a masters yet). Working as a Software Engineer (though job titles seem to be next to useless in this industry).
The argument for unmanning Bargain comes from it's comparison to Griselbrand, who didn't break the format (though has been a player).
Bargain has advantages over Ad Nauseum, but also disadvantages (IE, you still lose a life for drawing 0 CMC cards, and it costs 6 rather than 5). It's effect is clearly not banworthy when stapled to a 7/7 Flying Lifelink creature for two extra mana, so it's worth consideration.
Mind Twist should be an easy unban: It's pointless to ritual into the card (Because you could just win instead) in combo decks; and other decks won't be casting for game breaking amounts until turn 3-4 at the earliest. It's powerful in Control/MidRange vs. Control/Midrange match ups, but meh...
Play something your opponents can interact with. Usually, this means creatures. Many players do not mainboard artifact/enchantment removal in significant quantities. Spell-based combo is almost certainly out. Newer players tend to find Counterspells unfun (though don't let that stop you from running some, just don't play 36Counters.dec).
Make sure you can actually end the game once you "win". Nothing sucks more than sitting around for fifteen minutes waiting for someone to draw their one of finisher once everyone else is locked out of the game. This pretty much explicitly rules out Prison strategies also (unless they kill quickly, of course).
I can live with being half right. I would have sworn I thought I've seen you claim legal experience before. Might have that mixed up with someone else though; I'm awful at keeping names straight.
Edit: Just how much longer is this going to keep going? I'm running out of popcorn.
Spending 3 cards and five mana to make them discard 4 only puts you up one card. If we're willing to spend five mana to gain a single card advantage, why not just run Divination.
If you're pointing removal at a Griselbrand, you've probably already lost the game.
Mind Twist has a niche, it would see some play. It's not going to tear up the format. Card is seriously good in Matches between fair decks.
Another option is Treasure Hunt, if you end up upping your land count. Would work well with brainstorm as well...
Memory Lapse looks pretty sweet, especially on Scepter. You could basically cause a soft lock, where they can't play anything (because then they'll just keep drawing the same card) for a while. I'm a huge fan of Mana Leak, but if you're regularly going into the lategame without the game being decided, then it definitely loses it's luster.
I don't really see Hindering Light doing much for you that negate wouldn't. You don't really care that much if your opponent goes after your permanents, and Revelation will undo a lot of Burn spells. It draws a card, but it also takes two colors of mana, which means you can't always count on it being online turn two.
The only thing I can really think of to help you out is some sort of cheap way to hold creatures off early game, until you can start blowing up the board. I don't know that it's actually something you need with Scepter/swords available, but it could be an issue, depending on your meta.
Also, I knwo that you said you've already tried Aetherling, but I'm going to recommend him anyways. He's nice to have around as a one-off in control decks, as that one guy that just straight up can't be stopped.
Anyways:
23 lands seems pretty low for a deck that wants to be casting six mana planeswalkers. I would seriously consider going up to 24-26 lands. You really want to be making your land drops each turn until late in the game, when you can start powering out huge Revelations and Decrees. Also, storage lands are a trap. They're terrible, terrible cards, and I strongly recommend just dropping them. It doesn't tap for colored mana, costs two mana to charge (it has to tap itself also), and it even costs mana to use it's effect. Just run enough lands in the first place, and you don't have to hassle with cards like that.
12 Counterspells is almost certainly overkill. I would recommend dropping the Render Silents. By the time you can cast it, you're really going to want to be responding to their threats with Verdicts. Also, it's too expensive to go on the scepter. I do understand why you dislike Mana Leak, but it's actually an amazingly good card. The mana requirements are lower, for those times you find yourself without double blue mana on turn two; and by the time your opponents can afford to pay three, you should already have taken over the game.
Really, I think the Groundhog is no worse off than any other sort of pet.
Bargain has advantages over Ad Nauseum, but also disadvantages (IE, you still lose a life for drawing 0 CMC cards, and it costs 6 rather than 5). It's effect is clearly not banworthy when stapled to a 7/7 Flying Lifelink creature for two extra mana, so it's worth consideration.
Mind Twist should be an easy unban: It's pointless to ritual into the card (Because you could just win instead) in combo decks; and other decks won't be casting for game breaking amounts until turn 3-4 at the earliest. It's powerful in Control/MidRange vs. Control/Midrange match ups, but meh...
Make sure you can actually end the game once you "win". Nothing sucks more than sitting around for fifteen minutes waiting for someone to draw their one of finisher once everyone else is locked out of the game. This pretty much explicitly rules out Prison strategies also (unless they kill quickly, of course).
Edit: Just how the heck to we post photos on here, anyways?
I can live with being half right. I would have sworn I thought I've seen you claim legal experience before. Might have that mixed up with someone else though; I'm awful at keeping names straight.
Edit: Just how much longer is this going to keep going? I'm running out of popcorn.