Saihyol

Narset is bad in this deck - nombos with Mantis Rider, Mindswipe, Disolve, Swansong and Deflecting Palm. When you add in the 2nd copy of herself suggested there are 19 cards she doesn't cast (out of your 36 non-lands). I think she belongs in a burn/token creature generating strategy.

Good point - renamed :) and thanks

Totally changed deck leaving the heroic mechanic behind

I like the Glory's but I think needing the red mana, particularly early, is not somewhere I want to be. I think the 4 life, 4 damage from the Helix is probably good enough to hold the slot. The Mark for Death (previously sideboard) was originally to get me through or to kill off one creature, but the Helix/Fury cover that so I've had a look at a couple of other sideboard options hovering around Heliod, Boros Reckoner and Ratchet Bomb

Hey, thanks for the feedback, my deck morphed into this version in order to gain speed.

I found previously that I was running out meaningful threats on turn 5-8. which then weren't scary till 8-10. Which is why I now have a mana curve that effectively stops at 3 and I like having so many combat tricks. Also with all the cheap heroic stuff I get permanent bonuses for all of my combat tricks. I like the Truefire and the Sunhome but the bonuses are really expensive and don't last. With this version I've played out hands where by turn 5 I have an 5/6 Hoplite two 5/5 Leaders and a 6/6 Rider. One of these and a Boros charm for double strike as an instant after you don't block can be crazy good.

As my creatures can get reasonably big early the Denizen is there so I can tap out the deathtoucher or blocker which will kill them. Later on it has great synergy with Legion as unlike a lot of other cards it says 'when a creature enters play' not 'when a creature spell is cast'. Having said that I do like the look of Aurelia's Fury for stalemated games instead either going to an opponents face or getting my guys through and warleader's helix is always good and might be worth replacing the Arrests.

I have two copies of Heliod which I'm really tempted to find a spot for given how large my devotion is likely to be. I'm also pulling the Crusaders as I very rarely want to target them with my tricks - an extra 1/1 is not usually as tempting as boosting creatures and going with the Soldier allows me to re-balance my mana.

There's not much burn here so targeted blue creature exiling (puny god) is good... plus most creatures in the deck can block the tokens, more burn might be better (but I love that card).

I'd suggest getting the deck down to 60 cards.

Cards I'd drop:
Psychic Spiral - weakens your deck, expensive and unlikely to win you games as you're deck isn't focused on milling.
Essence Backlash - expensive, only counters a creature and may not even do that much damage.

I might keep the Stymied Hope, worst case is as stated above but it often slows your opponent down as they want to hold the mana to stop you countering.
Lightning strike's likely to be as good for you in removing key creatures as the backlash and is cheaper and more flexible.
Spell rupture's a reasonable counter for this deck and even better with the Cyclops on the table.

Your creatures are all pretty expensive. I don't think the Prognostic Sphinx or the Incursion Specialists are particularly good. The Sphinx is too expensive and I'd rather hold onto my cards. The Specialist is okay but think about the mid game. You've emptied your hand and start stacking cards to use with him: Every other turn you can sneak in two damage right? Wrong - pull a land and you need to wait another turn, pull a counter and you'll need to wait another turn, pull a burn spell and you'll need to cast it even if it's not the right time/most effective use.

I'd suggest replacing them with these:
Omen Speakers as it will trigger your Flamespeakers as well as letting you sift your deck
Cloudfin Raptors a cheap flyer that grows because all your other creatures are bigger
Sea coast drake gives you a solid blocker

If you were prepared to strip out the Prescient Chimeras too you might be able to drop to 20/21 land as well.

I’ve tried not to suggest cards to add as it’s clear you’re working on a limited card selections, but for some of your cards it would be good to get up to 4 of.

I’ve also noticed that you have a lot of two mana of one colour cards – this is not impossible to manage but normally you’d only do this with one colour at a time (you have Vampire Nighthawk and Black Knight, Sanguine Blood, Murder and Victim of Night for black and Cancel, Claustrophobia and Encrust in blue). This is a recipe for getting you land locked, but looking at your choices I suspect this is because of how useful these are.

I’ve also not tried to make it Standard legal

Artifacts (0)
Loose the staffs, these are too slow and particularly for a control deck you’re going to need that card slot for something that drives your plan forward not some slow life gain.
Loose the Cauldron – you simply don’t have enough creatures for this to be worth it.

Creatures (18)
Like your choices, good mana range and lots of useful abilities. That said the Balustrade Spies don’t build on your deck and are quite expensive. I’d look for some two cost creatures here, preferably in black but also a couple of beefier creatures like Sengir Vampires

Enchantments (8)
A few too many here I think. I’d drop the Blood Reckonings – I like them but they’re a little too expensive and not quite damaging enough to an opponent. I’d also loose the Claustrophobia and Encrusts, too much blue mana and I much prefer the Stab Wounds (great card – reduce or kill an opponent’s creature and then cost them lives as well – Yay!)

Instants (12)
Drop the Victim of the Night – very specific and two black. Given the Murder, Doom Blades and Stab Wounds creatures should be less of a threat so drop the Essence Scatters. Despite the mana cost I’d keep the cancels – too good. I’d reduce the count and if you could swap the Downpour’s for Frost Breaths if you can.

Sorceries (0)
None of these were quite good enough…

Land (22)
You’re going to need more Black and now only the Cancels cost more than 1 blue
Island x 7
Swamp x 11
Dimir Guldgate x4

Hope this is helpful fella, if there are particular things I've said or cards I've dropped that you'd disagree with happy to discuss particular choices.

I can see exactly where most of this would replace stuff in the deck if I was looking to make it tournament competitive. Unfortunately what you've listed are almost all rares or expensive cards to get hold of and I don't have a desire to spend that sort of money on this deck right now (the Glimpses alone are c.£20 each).

I only got back to magic around gatecrash (played from unlimited through to planeshift previously) and convinced a number of friends to start playing so I wasn't aware of some of these cards, though now I want them all. The deck as it is does well enough against my current opposition that they groan when they see the first tome scour :)

Cheers for the feedback.