My favorite Magic card is Saproling Burst.
I used to run it in a mono-green legacy deck that would tear the pants off most other legacy decks, despite those decks being many times more valuable than my own. Creature generation on an enchantment - yes please!
Also, it was my first foil card.
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On to your post:
1) I would definitely add Swiftfoot Boots. If you're trying to voltron your creatures, you should give them hexproof/shroud as much as possible.
2) Along the same lines as number one, you'll want to make your dudes indestructible too. I'd add Felidar Umbra, Hyena Umbra, Mammoth Umbra, maybe even Umbra Mystic. Also consider adding Indestructibility and Gift of Immortality
there's another white enchantment from Theros that allows your dude to come back, can't think of the name of it. (thanks to bigbearlyke)3) Concerning your removal suite, I think you must include Oblation - it's fantastic. I'd also consider adding (or subbing in) Allay.
Good luck!
Pandemonium and cards with its effect
Palinchron
-All is Dust
+Wash Out
Reasoning: All is Dust will toast your own stuff, and it's a very high CMC sorcery, which means you're probably tapping out for it. At sorcery speed, for 3 less CMC, I think Wash Out wins in this scenario. If you're concerned about non-creature permanent removal, I would also consider Qasali Pridemage.
-Chancellor of the Spires
+Snapcaster Mage
Reasoning: You have some powerful spells, so I can understand that you'd want some spell recursion. Although it won't hit opponents' spells, I think Snapcaster Mage is much more aggressively costed, can be done at flash speed, and is recurrable with your Sun Titan, Reveillark, and Karmic Guide.
-Terminus
+Angel of Serenity
Reasoning: You already have two great sweepers in Austere Command and Planar Cleansing - and if you took the Wash Out suggestion, that's a third. I think you run a risk of tucking your own value creatures with this card, which means you can't recur them. Rather, I think you'd be happy with Angel of Serenity, as it can be used offensively against opponents' defenders or it can be used as another source of recursion on creatures in your own graveyard. It also helps that it flies, which is something these bant lists are sorely missing.
-Lurking Predators
+Asceticism
Reasoning: You have a ton of ways to get your creatures into play - the little ones with mana, the big ones with spells and tutors (speaking of which, have you considered Eladmari's Call for Turn to Mist?). Asceticism will give your creatures that you soon wish to bounce some staying power. Also, Asceticism is a high-casting-cost enchantment that does work the turn it comes into play - Lurking Predators is not. Finally, this will help you lower your mana curve.
-Sea Gate Oracle
+Vendilion Clique
Reasoning: You have zero counter magic in your deck currently. I feel like other creatures with effects as they enter (I'm thinking any red-based deck with cards like Purphuros, God of War type effects) will punish this deck. Vendilion Clique is counter magic on a stick, flashable, repeatable counter magic, and a source of card draw on yourself if you're desperate.
-Sudden Disappearance
+Wash Out
Reasoning: You already have a better version of this in Ghostway, and if you're using it offensively, I'd rather use Wash Out as it can hit more players and targets. Additionally, it will help you lower your mana curve.
-Galepowder Mage
+Restoration Angel
Reasoning: Restoration Angel does not require you to attack to use its ability, and it has flash, so she makes any of your ETB guys already on the field into an instant ability.
-Regal Force
+Nephalia Smuggler
Reasoning: I think you lack card draw, and unfortunately most of it is high on your curve in Mulldrifter, Prime Speaker Zegana, Soul of the Harvest, and Regal Force. However, I think a 7-drop that is primarily used as card draw is just too much. To lower your curve and have another flicker effect, I'd choose the smuggler.
-Evacuation
+Rhystic Study
Reasoning: If you went with my suggestion and put in Wash Out, I think you'd be comfortable with this change. It helps you lower your curve while at the same time giving you a source of card draw that is passive and low on your mana curve.
Anyway, hope some of this was helpful!
This is definitely something to think about. Another idea that bears mentioning on the Harmonic Sliver versus Aura Shards discussion is that Aura Shards will typically draw a ton of heat from everyone at the table, whereas Harmonic Sliver generally only angers one opponent. If you play in a meta filled with well-tuned decks, I would consider this political aspect carefully, as I've had games where I became a public enemy #1 simply by playing Aura Shards.
I would cut Cloudshift for Ghostway. Cloudshift, in my opinion, simply does not give you enough value for a spot in the deck. You need more value that one blink, in my opinion, to make the cut.
Other suggestions:
Defense of the Heart for Tooth and Nail. It will help you cut down on your already-huge curve, it can help discourage aggro from committing to the board, and it will help you keep mana open in the late game.
Qasali Pridgemage for Woodfall Primus. Again, this will help you cut down on your mana curve, and you get the type of repeatable removal out of the pridgemage that you get out of the primus. Pridgemage is recurrable with Sun Titan, Revillark, and Karmic Guide.
Finally, I'd find a way to fit some counter magic in here. If you want them on a stick consider Vendilion Clique or Mystic Snake. Otherwise, consider Spell Crumple or Hinder. Some places I see you could cut are the blinkers (you have a lot of blink effects, not as many ways to protect the dudes you have out) or your removal (in multiplayer EDH, people are often using cards that have value one the card resolves....putting in some counter magic over removal may help with this).
Hope this helps.
Have you considered Defense of the Heart instead of Tooth and Nail?
I prefer Defense of the Heart in this deck for the following reasons:
1) It's lower on the mana curve. Your curve is already very high, so I think this would help with your early-mid game.
2) You do not reveal the creatures as you do using the first prong of Tooth and Nail. Similarly, you do not need for the two creatures you want to cast to be in your hand.
3) Defense of the Heart can act as a deterrent to really fast aggro decks, if you find that as a problem in your meta.
4) Tooth and Nail is sorcery speed only - there's a good chance you will be tapping out to cast it, which will allow you limited or no ability to respond to anything else during your opponents' turns, such as a Roon of the Hidden Realms blink.
5) Tooth and Nail is cast later in the game, making it more likely that people are holding up counter magic to combat game-enders and combos from going off. Defense of the Heart comes down at least 3 turns earlier, so if you hit it on curve, it's much less likely to be countered.
I prefer Defense of the Heart in this deck for the following reasons:
1) It's lower on the mana curve. Your curve is already very high, so I think this would help with your early-mid game.
2) You do not reveal the creatures as you do using the first prong of Tooth and Nail. Similarly, you do not need for the two creatures you want to cast to be in your hand.
3) Defense of the Heart can act as a deterrent to really fast aggro decks, if you find that as a problem in your meta.
4) Tooth and Nail is sorcery speed only - there's a good chance you will be tapping out to cast it, which will allow you limited or no ability to respond to anything else during your opponents' turns, such as a Roon of the Hidden Realms blink.
5) Tooth and Nail is cast later in the game, making it more likely that people are holding up counter magic to combat game-enders and combos from going off. Defense of the Heart comes down at least 3 turns earlier, so if you hit it on curve, it's much less likely to be countered.
-He's cheap in your 3 CMC slot, has an effect that you can use offensively or defensively, depending on your board state and what other ETB creatures you already have out
-You can bring him back with Revillark
-He will help you clear a board late-game with your other flicker effects, since it appears like you have only a few late-game ways to punch through
Good luck
I agree with Elmochalatte, but I'll elaborate a bit. As he said, this thread is FULL of this very discussion, and about 10 pages back you'll find a section regarding the different iterations of Grixis, including the strengths and weaknesses of using each of the colors as just a splash. Before posting your comment, I think it would have been helpful to read the entire thread, including that section.
I definitely disagree with your analysis of the inclusion of red. You said red spells are not a threat, and then listed them. Please allow me to answer in turn:
1) Anger of the Gods. If you think this is not threatening, I'm not sure what standard events you are playing. The only other sweeper in our colors, or even the MBD that you ended with, is Ratchet Bomb, which is subpar in the situations you'd need it (to wit: aggro). Even against more midrange-type decks, I've found that hitting their setup cards (Sylvan Caryatid, Nightveil Spectre, etc) is a huge help for us keeping pace.
2) Frostburn Weird. (ignoring the fact that you don't need red for it): Depending on your deck style, this is an all-star. It plays a specific role, and it doesn't need to be a giant threat on its own in order to fulfill that role. It's an early x/4 blocker, which is very relevant against RDW/GW. It protects our planeswalkers t2+. Even topdeck, if we've kept control, it's a late-game beater.
3) Dreadbore. I've found this spell to be quite relevant. It's the only 2cmc spell that deals with resolved planeswalkers, and for that reason alone it's in my sideboard. Together with our other removal, it helps round out our removal suite.
And you have completely ignored other cards that we get access to when we include red:
1) Steam Augury - depending on the style of deck you're playing, a 4cmc instant-speed draw spell is wonderful. If you have redundancy (and I do in my decklist) it's fantastic.
2) Mizzium Mortars - in my sideboard, it comes in to combat the very-popular Blood Baron. Also acts as another sweeper.
3) Slaughter Games - If you have read the thread (and from your post, it's clear you didn't) you'd see that many people have found this to be wonderful post-board against a number of decks, including your MBD
I'm sure I'm forgetting some spells, but these are just a few reasons to keep the red in Grixis Control. If you want to comment about other decks you are trying (UB control and MBD) there are threads devoted to those decklists and playstyles. Please keep your comments in the appropriate threads.
I'm sure you will hear it from everyone, but using Thoughtflare as a draw engine, like using Steam Augury, will require redundancy in your deck. Personally I like them, as a run 3 Steam Augury and 1 Thoughtflare; however, have you considered running Jace, Architect of Thought as another draw engine? As you can see from most decks being posted, he seems to be a staple in the build and he has worked great for myself. Of course, he also comes with the added benefit of being versatile, as his +1 helps against aggro when you need it.
Good luck!
Did anyone else have a problem with him? After going 4-0 at FNM, I went 2-2 at Game Day. While I attribute much of my Game Day woes to having forgotten to pack my playset of Anger of the Gods, I got completely trounced by a mono green deck that mainboarded 3 Mistcutter Hydra. My removal suite consists of 4 far/away, 2 dreadbore, 2 devour flesh, 1 doom blade. That left me with 1 instant-cast removal and 2 sorcery-speed removal for them pre-board. The far and devour flesh were uselss, as mono green pumped out too many chumps that he could sac, and I couldn't counter the hydra either.
With the rise in popularity of mono blue devotion, esper, and UW control, does anyone foresee Mistcutter Hydra being a long-term problem? Is anyone mainboarding more hard removal in anticipation for this? Or was this a meta-specific problem? I'm nearly considering mainboarding Ultimate Price at this point...
In my testing over the weekend, Omenspeaker was fantastic vs. aggro (I expect my meta, and most metas early-on, to be full of aggro). Assuming a t2 drop, it's a 1/3 body that fixes my draw (which helps get me to AotG or the double red for it).
Worst-case scenario I have seen so far is they have to use another card to make sure their 2 drop gets through. That's still 1-for-1'ing an aggro deck and getting us to our 3 drop without having taken damage while helping fix our draws. I guess the alternative is using our t2 play to save for a counter or use removal EoT...either way we're 1-for-1'ing until at least our 3 drop.
For those who do not like Omenspeaker, in your testing, what scenarios have you not found him to be helpful?