As you've probably already seen, I also have a Scarab God primer and I also focus on the control aspect rather than the combo or tribal aspects. What I really like about this primer is that you nailed the explanation of how to play
The Scarab God. Too often I see other Scabby players activate the ability at sorcery speed and for value, instead of taking advantage of the control aspects. It's nice to know I'm not alone. What's really interesting is that despite us playing the same commander and strategy, our card choices are radically different. There's only a 36 card overlap between our decks.
So I'd mostly want to know your reasoning for not including these cards, as I've found them quite good.
InteractionExpel from Orazca, Hostage Taker, Meteor Golem: Dimir is kinda starved for artifact and enchantment removal. I'm not about to pretend that
Meteor Golem is a good card, but would you
consider it for more versatile removal options? How well does this deck fair against artifact and enchantment-based decks?
Notion Thief & Opposition Agent: These two are situational, but their situations come up a lot.
Notion Thief can even win games.
Overcharged Amalgam: I use this for the same reason we both use Ertai; dual-purpose
counterspell and removal on a creature. What do you think of it?
Sinister Concoction: Don't knock it 'till you've tried it. Milling and discarding a card is more relevant in our decks than others.
Sower of Temptation: I've often wondered if I should use
Agent of Treachery instead of this. I know I'll never get to 3 cards owned by opponents, but the unconditional possession of something is nice. The 7 mana hard-cast is not. At least I'm still capable of hard-casting Sower. What are you're thoughts on these pros and cons?
Stubborn Denial: I'm just wondering if you'd rather use this than
Swan Song.
Card Advantage/DiscardAncient Excavation: This is really good draw, and it lets you dump high-cost creatures. Also instant-speed, so it's useful if you didn't already spend that mana controlling the board. I certainly think it would work better than
Gruesome Realization.
Awaken the Erstwhile: Do you
consider this a combo? It's puts everyone else in top-deck mode, as you'll still have graveyard card advantage, which means you're incredibly likely to win. At least that's how it's been for me.
Cryptbreaker: The best one mana zombie. It provides a bunch of relevant aspects for this deck. It discards cards, gives tokens to help with Scarab God's
scrying, and gives card draw. All at instant-speed.
Whispering Madness and Windfall: Wheel effects are really good card draw, especially in a deck that want's cards in the graveyard. What was your reason for excluding them?
RampCrypt Ghast: Is this card not included because of the density of swamps in your build (11 out of 38 lands) versus mine (16 out of 36 lands)?
Dimir Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance: They are not quite as good as
Arcane Signet, but they're only slightly worse. Aren't they good enough for a spot?
MiscellaneousDemonic Tutor: Is being sorcery-speed a big enough reason to not include it?
Mesmeric Orb: I remember from the Gale primer that you weren't a big fan of mill effects, as you wanted to be more selective about what you put in your graveyard. Is that still the case, or has that changed now that you also have access to things in your opponents' graveyards? Because
Mesmeric Orb is easily one of the best cards in my version and one of two common tutor targets (
Training Grounds being the other).
Victimize: It gets two creatures instead of one, and most of your other recursion is already sorcery speed. Is the creatures entering tapped a huge downside? Or is it having to sacrifice one of yours that's a problem?
I'd also like to know a little more about how these cards perform for you.
Astral Dragon: What are your typical targets for this? You have it listed under ramp, so I'm guessing it's either lands or rocks that you choose. Is that worth it's 8 mana hard-cast, or 4 mana with Scarab God?
Bolas's Citadel: I love this card, but I've yet to try it out in my build (I expect it to get milled. A lot). Does the lack of lifegain affect it's usability? Can you consistently get the lands
out of the way so you can keep casting stuff? Or do you mostly use it to cast instants off of the top of your library?
Feed the Swarm: Does the sorcery-speed ever affect you, or is being able to remove an enchantment more important?
Lethal Scheme: I've been meaning to test this out, but I can't figure out what to cut. How often do you pay full mana for this card? About how much mana do you typically spend to cast it?
Portal to Phyrexia: Is the 9 mana cost a problem? Do you still have enough mana to effectively control the board after playing this spell?
Saw in Half: This card was really hyped up when it was spoiled, but I don't see it that often. I've been trying out
Cleaver Skaab, but I'm kinda disappointed in it's performance. How has
Saw in Half been working for you?
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: She's listed as a finisher, but I've always though of her as being very incremental. And you're not using any wheel effects. Does she do a lot of damage on her own?
And lastly, some other strategy-based things I'd like to know about.
How well does this deck operate without
The Scarab God? Does the card advantage suffer a lot without the scry and reanimation? Can you still do the control aspect with just instants?
Do you know how fast this deck is? What turn do you typically cast
The Scarab God? When does this deck typically win a game (if you pay attention to that). How effectively can it stop combos in the early, mid, or late game?
How often do you use the combat phase? I frequently don't attack and keep blockers instead. Scarab God and
Gray Merchant of Asphodel do all the damage I need.
Do you find yourself more often bringing back your creatures with Scabby God or your opponents'? Mix of both?