Below is my take on Dakkon Blackblade. I have about 6 EDH decks currently but this is the only one that I have agonized over the card choices, so I thought I'd post it here to get some feedback. There are just so many quality cards in UBW. This deck will be played in duels as well as up to 4 player multiplayer.

In duels, the deck simply uses its life as a resource to draw cards and eventually grinds out the opponent with card advantage. Ultimately, the deck hopes to end the game with a Dakkon 2-shot. Identity Crisis/ Mind Twist, Lightning Greaves, and Shizo, Death’s Storehouse are typically used to facilitate this. The deck defends itself with counters, kill spells, and bounce. Beacon of Immortality is used to prevent from losing during the combat step. Unfortunately, the deck defends itself from general damage by shuffling up its opponents general through Hinder, Hallowed Burial, Condemn, Spin into Myth, or bounce with Vendilion Clique. Alternative routes to victory include Decree of Justice and Grave Titan.

In multiplayer, the deck functions much the same, only plays much more diplomatically, hoping to survive until the game turns into a duel. Then the deck can win on the back of Dakkon Blackblade.

Creatures:
Vendilion Clique
Venser, Shaper Savant
Mulldrifter
Reviellark
Body Double
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Sower of Temptation
Shriekmaw
Glen Elendra Archmage
Azorius Guildmage
Zur the Enchanter
Angel of Despair
Grave Titan

Planeswalkers:
Lilliana Vess
Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Enchantments:
Animate Dead
Land Tax
Phyrexian Arena
Rhystic Study
Necropotence
Future Sight
Oblivion Ring
Treachery

Artifacts:
Lightning Greaves
Sensei's Divining Top
Mind's Eye
Coalition Relic
Loxodon Warhammer

Sorceries:
Night's Whisper
Vindicate
Promise of Power
Decree of Justice
Mind Twist
Wrath of God
Rout
Damnation
Hallowed Burial
Identity Crisis
Demonic Tutor

Instants:
Brainstorm
Jace's Ingenuity
Swords to Plowshares
Condemn
Spin into Myth
Mortify
Capsize
Shred Memory
Beacon of Immortality
Mystical Teachings
Vampiric Tutor
Return to Dust
Fact or Fiction
Hinder
Forbid
Counterspell
Muddle the Mixture
Cryptic Command
Pact of Negation
Desertion
Mystical Tutor

Lands:
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Arcane Sanctum
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Dimir Aqueduct
Azorius Chancery
Orzhov Basilica
Vivid Creek
Vivid Marsh
Vivid Meadow
Sunken Ruins
Mystic Gate
Fetid Heath
Glacial Fortress
Drowned Catacomb
Tainted Isle
Tainted Field
Riptide Laboratory
Prahv, Spires of Order
Halimar Depths
Bojuka Bog
Godless Shrine
Marsh Flats
Hallowed Fountain
Watery Grave
River of Tears
Nimbus Maze
Bad River
Flooded Plain
Tolaria West
Island
Island
Island
Island
Swamp
Swamp
Swamp
Plains
Plains
Plains

There are a ton of cards I would like to fit into this deck. I'm going to continue to playtest this deck and post cards that I think warrant consideration. I will also post any changes I make during playtesting.

I appreciate any feedback.

Change Log:
-- Weathered Wayfarer
++ Land Tax
-- Draining Whelk
++ Desertion
-- Ghostly Prison
++ Animate Dead
-- Crystal Shard
++ Loxodon Warhammer
-- Ancestral Vision
++ Brainstorm
-- Ambition's Cost
++ Jace's Ingenuity

I really think you could cut Zur - aside from the target he'll paint on your forehead in a multiplayer game, you don't have a ton of stuff that makes him... you know... worth the slot. If you really want to tutor up your necropotence or Rhystic Study, throw in some more tutor spells;
Beseech the Queen
Diabolic Tutor

I'm working on Dakkon right now. I find that I need to hit a land drop every single turn. In order to facilitate this, I upped the basic land count, and added cards like Land Tax, Journeyer's Kite, and Weathered Wayfarer. Of course, I play only multiplayer, so I have an easier time of setting this stuff up.

Dakkon really likes Loxodon Warhammer or Whispersilk Cloak. Gotta make sure that he gets his damage through.

I like the idea of using Zur to tutor up answers, and not just for outright power. Maybe add Journey to Nowhere, Seal of Doom. Also, Animate Dead would be good to raid people's graveyards. But he will paint a target on your head like Sid says. I think I will try it in my version.

Well, this weekend I got to play about 10+ duels with this deck. I never actually cast Zur, so I can’t comment on that just yet. In duels, I figure he would be awesome because any game I stuck a Necropotence was pretty much in the bag. In multiplayer, I can understand that he may paint a target on my head. However, I personally am only afraid of Zur as a general and I feel like other players in my playgroup would share the same sentiment. Not that Zur isn’t a scary card but if he is removed, he probably isn’t coming back like say he would be if he was someone’s general.

As expected, Identity Crisis was my go-to card to wrap up a game.

Grave Titan and Vendilion Cliquewere somewhat surprise all-stars. I won a good chunk of my games on the back of Grave Titan rather than Dakkon Blackblade combining these cards was simply deadly. I would flash in a Vendilion Clique EOT, to see that they either didn’t have an answer or shuffle their answer back into their deck, and then windmill slam the Titan and ride him to victory.
PS: Playing a Grave Titan EOT with Teferi is completely broken.

As for the mana issue, during the games I played mana didn’t present itself to be a huge issue. I hit a land drop pretty much every turn. The deck usually rips a draw spell that allows me to hit my land drops. The one game that I had really shaky mana, Weathered Wayfarer saved my skin. I, however, would like to have a few more lands in the deck.

Cards that will probably go:
Ancestral Vision: awesome card to play between the first and third, maybe the fourth turn but after that it loses a lot of value. I land will probably go in its place.

Crystal Shard: there was never a chance in any of the games that I played to crystal shard for profit. I love the card, definitely one of my favorites, but there aren't a lot of creatures for it to bounce, let alone ones with CITP effects. Still warrants testing but it’s on my list.

Cards that I would like to find room for / will probably end up playtesting with:
Whispersilk Cloak
Loxodon Warhammer / Sword of Vengeance

A way to recur Identity Crisis, there was a game was preparing to seal with an Identity Crisis in my hand and I was hit by a draw 7. I lost the Crisis and had to settle (lol) for a Mind Twist. The only 2 cards I can think of to fill this spot are Mnemonic Walland something like Call to Mindwhich both seem sorta gross.

Journeyer’s Kite: this was in an iteration of the deck that I had but was cut before the list even saw play. It at least warrants playtesting.

After writing my findings out, I may have to make two separate lists with minor, possibly substantial card changes, one for multiplayer and one for duels. As I move forward with the deck there are cards that are awesome for duels but weak or hazardous in multiplayer: Identity Crisis, Zur, the multiple general shuffling effects. On the other side there are cards that are good in multiplayer but less amazing in duels, Mind’s Eye comes to mind. In a deck that I’m having trouble squeezing a few key cards in, I think that creating two lists and cutting the bad multiplayer/dual cards out in the respective lists will give me two better decks rather than one that’s meant to play in both formats.

Possible cuts:

I think Weathered Wayfarer is a great EDH card, but probably isn't worth the slot in a deck as controlling as yours. You don't need that much color-fixing and with all that card advantage you're often going to have more lands than your opponent.

Ghostly Prison is okay, but I've generally found it somewhat sub-par in EDH. Few decks are even bothered by it, and the decks it does hinder tend to destroy it at inopportune moments.

Night's Whisper and Ambition's Cost are fine card draw for decks that need them, but you've got much better options in blue.

EDIT: Your auto-cards aren't working because you have to tag each card individually here. A useful program for doing this quickly can be found here.

I also wanted to add that Draining Whelk was never really the finisher I wanted him to be so he may be leaving the deck very soon.



Weathered Wayfarer is strictly worse than Land Tax, so that was an easy switch. I'm not sure yet if I agree that my opponents will always have less land. In multi-player, there is a pretty good chance that someone will be ahead of me to trigger Land tax and a 1 for 3 I will always take, even if its land. I'm going to have to test it. If I have problems triggering it, then it will be replaced with Journeyer's Kite, which obviously hogs a lot more mana. I really hope Land Tax works and it just might because the karoo lands will help keep my mana up but my land count down.

The Ghostly Prison will probably go. The first iteration of the deck also had Propaganda but it was cut and Ghostly Prison will probably follow in its footsteps. It did win at least one game but its kind of underwhelming like you said. It keeps people from attacking me in multiplayer at the least.

Can you list some cards that you would play in the card draw slots? I'm perfectly happy to trade one life per card when I have 40 life. At least for this deck, I was using black to draw cards because the cards are cheaper and give more cards than their blue counterparts. If I only had 20 life it would be a different story. If there are cards that give the same amount of cards for the same mana cost, I'm totally into that.

Decks that are drawing tons of cards tend to have more lands in play than many opponents, but not opponents running a bunch of green mana ramp. I think Land Tax would be great in multiplayer and okay in 1v1, so it's probably worth the slot. The fact that you run all three bounce lands helps.

Life loss card draw isn't bad, but there's no real reason to run it if you can do the same thing without it. Concentrate is pretty much a strict improvement over Ambition's Cost, but I actually prefer Foresee. It nets you one less card, but you're almost always getting two relevant cards and you can potentially dig six cards deep for an answer if you're desperate. As far as a replacement for Night's Whisper goes, I would actually suggest Ponder. It's a great card to draw at any point in the game, giving you early game consistency or late game card selection at a very low cost.

After today, I made the swaps that I was comfortable with, they are laid out in the change log.

In: Land Tax Out: Weathered Wayfarer
Pretty obvious change. Apparently forgot Land Tax existed.

In: Desertation Out: Draining Whelk
Draining Whelk was never really the finisher I wanted it to be. Rather than countering the spell, I'd rather just straight up steal it, costs one less mana, and I'm removing Crystal Shard as well.

In: Animate Dead Out: Ghostly Prison
Ghostly Prison wasn't really protecting me the way I would hope. Animate Dead provides an alternate win condition.

In: Loxodon Warhammer Out: Crystal Shard
I discussed earlier that I wasn't getting the desired mileage out of Crystal Shard. Loxodon Warhammer turns any creature into a threat and makes Dakkon scary to boot.

In: Brainstorm Out: Ancestral Vision
Ancestral Vision was good if it was played early. Pretty bad otherwise, Brainstorm is good all the time. It got the nod.

In: Jace's Ingenuity Out: Ancient Craving
Pretty surprised that Concentrate slipped by me. I saw this new spell from M11 and decided to try it out as it is instant speed.

Night's Whisper will be staying for the time being.

I'm trying to think of feasible ways to recur Identity Crisis. These seem to be what I've come up with:
Reito Lantern
Ill-Gotten Gains
Mnemonic Wall
Call to Mind
Recall

All of which don't seem that great. If anyone has any other ideas I would love to listen.

Call to Mind is cheaper, so you have the opportunity to play Identity Crisis on the same turn. But Mnemonic Wall leaves behind a blocker. I would probably go with one of these. Recall isn't bad either as it can get back multiple cards. I guess that wasn't that helpful. Oh well.

Some additional blue card draw:

Recurring Insight
Aeon Chronicler
Sphinx of Magosi
Overwhelming Intellect

I personally like the creatures because they serve two purposes: Card draw and beater. And I've never drawn less than 8 cards from Recurring Insight. I would probably also add Reliquary Tower for when your hand gets full and you don't want to discard.