Creatures – 22
2 Dimir Guildmage
2 Inkfathom Infiltrator
2 Walking Corpse
2 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Neurok Invisimancer
1 Royal Assassin
1 Scroll Thief
1 Abyssal Specter
1 Ashling, the Extinguisher
1 Glen Elendra Liege
1 Sangromancer
1 Shoreline Salvager
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Nemisis of Reason
1 Laquatus’s Champion
1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Other Spells – 14
4 Agony Warp
1 Mask of Riddles
1 Soul Manipulation
2 Barrin’s Spite
3 Helm of the Ghastlord
1 Dire Undercurrents
2 Ribbons of Night
Land – 24
3 Terramorphic Expanse
10 Swamp
11 Island
General Strategy: The main goal is to put your opponent in topdeck mode, stall/control the field, and then victory should come easily as your opponent has no more resources. When your opponent is topdecking, the game should generally get easier for you, as you should have an abundance of cards/options, while your opponent is relying on luck to get something that can help them. More often than not, a topdecking opponent isn’t going to have anything threatening coming your way. Therefore, this build is running maximum discard. From there, you just have to stall or control the field, then march in with your unblockables or one of the finisher to end your opponent.
Dimir Guildmage – One of my favorite guildmages. Even if you don’t get to use his effect, he does attract a lot of attention, which can draw removal away from other things.
Inkfathom Infiltrator – Being unblockable and both blue and black makes it a prime target for a Helm.
Walking Corpse/Barony Vampire – They’re both vanilla creatures, and the fact that most people are including one or both of these guys shows how this deck is really lacking in early game cards. 2 mana for a 2/2 isn’t bad, but it makes you wish the card pool was better.
Invisible Stalker – It may seem odd to exclude this, but there’s really not any auras worth using him with. Helm would be the best, but that only gives him +1/+1 and a card draw. No thanks, I’d rather save the Helm for something else.
Dimir Cutpurse – One of my favorite blue/black creatures. 1-2 hits with this guy, and you should have enough card advantage to win the game. He does need assistance connecting with your opponent, but that’s what things like Barrin’s Spite are for.
Neurok Invisimancer – Aside from being weak to pingers, this is almost strictly better than Phantom Warrior. It’s unblockable, and can grant Ashling, Cutpurse, or something else unblockability for a turn.
Infiltrate/Flight of Fancy – I’m mentioning these at the same time, because I cut them for the same reason. Granting evasion is good at getting your creatures in for damage, that is, until you realize it’s only worth using on 3 creatures, the 2 Cutpurses and Ashling. Using an infiltrate on a Scroll Thief is basically just drawing the card that you would have drawn had you not had infiltrate to begin with. Flight of Fancy might be a little more appealing since Divination draws you 2 cards for 3 mana, but the case is still the same, and this deck doesn’t really need more card draw, or more auras that open you up for card disadvantage.
Scroll Thief – It can make your opponent play differently, holding back a blocker so you don’t get an extra card. Some people don’t care for it, but another thing to note is that it’s the only creature in the deck that costs 3 mana or less and has 3 toughness.
Glen Eldrana Liege – It’s not the best Liege of the bunch, but it does have a few things going for it. Built in evasion and being both black and blue make it a nice carrier for a Helm. Pumping all your other creatures is nice too.
Sangromancer – It’s one of the only ways to gain life in this deck, and being a black creature with flying still makes it a nice candidate for a Helm. If left unchecked, you can gain an insane amount of life with this.
Shoreline Salvager – It’s ok. It’s mostly in the deck because I don’t like Moroii and the card pool is very lacking. Attach a Helm to it and it’s essentially a 4/4 Dimir Cutpurse.
Moroii – It’s effect has killed me, or caused me to lose on multiple occasions. I don’t like Moroii for this deck. If your opponent puts a Pacifism on it, there’s not much you can do. Once I cut them, I never missed having them. The only positive things I have to say about it is that it has built in evasion and is both blue and black for the Helm.
Unliving Psychopath – My main issue with this card isn’t that it takes 4 mana to kill a creature with 2 power. My issue with it is that it takes specifically black mana, which is just not good for a 2-color deck. It does have synergy with the Liege and Agony Warp, but it’s still way too color intensive.
Mask of Riddles – It’s equipment that grants evasion and card draw. Yeah, black decks can still block the creature, but Wrexial has swampwalk, so that sorta balances out.
Agony Warp – An auto-include for all 4 copies, and not just because this deck is lacking other options. Agony Warp is really good. You can manipulate combat situations to get a 2-for-1 rather easily with this.
Barrin’s Spite – This is a great follow up to a Cutpurse, or later in the game to clear away two creatures from the field. To get the best use out of it, have your opponent near or in topdeck mode, so they’ll be forced to discard the creature that get’s returned to their hand.
Ribbons of Night – It’s a blue/black version of Bituminous Blast and Prophetic Bolt. Deal 4 damage, gain 4 life (which can be a lifesaver), and draw a card.
Extract/Glimpse the Unthinkable – There really isn’t enough mill in this deck to make mill a win-condition. These cards are best to use in 2HG if you’re teaming up with DP.
Memory Plunder – Another card that’s better in 2HG than in 1v1. Sometimes, it’s really amazing and versatile. Other times, it’s pretty much a dead draw. Wrexial has a built-in memory plunder, so you can stick with that for 1v1. Overall, Memory Plunder can make a good sideboard card for a best 2 out of 3 match in a 1v1 tournament or something.
Helm of the Ghastlord – I think I’ve talked about this enough with all the other cards, so the only thing I have to add here is to be careful when you cast it so that you don’t run into some instant speed removal.
Mindleech Mass – I have to give a shoutout to one of my favorite u/b creatures. I built a deck around this guy when Ravnica first came out. It was good in that deck, because I had ways to cheat the Mass into play with reanimation, and bounce to ensure my opponent had something I could use against them. It was a fun deck. However, the tools to make the Mass work just aren’t present in Rouge’s Gallery, which is sad.
Harvester of Souls – Deathtouch and an ability to draw cards isn’t bad. It’s really a preference call if you want to include this or not. I found it to have average performance in this deck. I was never upset to have him, but he was never really that game-winning either, but that’s really the story for most of this deck.
Laquatus’s Champion – One of the creatures I first underestimated. The 6 point life loss can end the game, especially if you cast the Champion in main phase 2 after attacking with a few creatures, and your opponent thinks it’s safe to let them slide through. It also regenerates, so it’s one of the few creatures in the deck with protection. The only downside is that you need to have that regen mana open, but that’s never really a huge issue.
Dire Undercurrents – Speaking of cards I underrated, Dire Undercurrents is pretty amazing in this deck. If your opponent isn’t in topdeck mode, they will be shortly. But more than that, every blue creature you play now replaces itself upon entry, which keeps a steady stream of resources coming your way. It’s also one of the only ways to make your opponent discard that doesn’t involve having your creature attack and damage them.
Nemesis of Reason – It may seem odd to include this, given its ability. However, I’m not running it because of it’s ability. The 7 toughness can block a lot of stuff, and the 3 power can deter mid-sized stuff from swinging. More importantly, with 3 Helms and Dire Undercurrents, I wanted to maximize the number of blue and black creatures (except Moroii). It is sad that I’m including a 5 mana creature for these reasons and basically ignoring his ability, but that’s the sad story of this deck. It’s not that I don’t like this deck, it’s just that it could have been designed so much better.
Painful Quandary – I really like this card, but in the end, I had to cut it for the Nemesis of Reason. Trust me, I know how nasty this card is in a limited environment, but this deck is desperate for board presence and stalling, neither of which Painful Quandary does particularly well. It can help stall your opponent from playing more cards if their hand is empty though. If this was a better blue/black deck, I’d almost certainly run this card, but for Rouge’s Gallery, it just doesn’t quite fit for me.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born – One of my new favorite blue/black cards, and one of the stars of this deck. I’d also be bold enough to say this is the most skill intensive card in this game, because it can backfire easily. At the same time, this is one of the most rewarding cards. I love its design and function, and I hope to see it again in DotP 2014. I’ve seen a lot of discussion on this card, and from what I see, people both for and against Grimgrin are playing it wrong.
One argument against Grimgrin is that if he gets removed in response to you trying to untap him, then you just lost card advantage. While this is a valid statement and concern, it shouldn’t be much of an issue. If your opponent is in topdeck mode, 9 times out of 10, they’re not going to topdeck removal. And this is another reason I’m running max discard in this build. This helps ensure that Grimgrin can get on the field and do his thing.
Another argument against Grimgrin is that this deck doesn’t have token production to continually feed Grimgrin. I have yet to play a game where I haven’t won within 2 attacks with Grimgrin. You don’t need that much food for him, and there’s plenty of cheap and throw away creatures you can use (Invisimancer and walking corpse for instance). Grimgrin will be a 7/7 (at least) on his first attack, and then a 9/9. Throw in the fact that you just destroyed 2 of your opponent’s creatures by swinging with Grimgrin, and the game should easily be yours.
One argument I see in favor of Grimgrin is that you can block with one of your creatures, and then sac it to untap Grimgrin, since your creature would have died anyways, and your opponent’s creature will still be blocked for that combat. While that may occassionally be a good play, don't overlook Grimgrin as a 6/6 (or bigger) blocker. If you’re confident your opponent doesn’t have removal and you’re going to sac a creature to untap Grimgrin, do it after your opponent attacks, and use your Grimgrin to block with, which should be able to kill most creatures as is.