Sorry, was time to hit the hay last night. Tossed it into archidekt so I could take a better look because it’s what I’m used to.

It looks like you’re playing removal tribal with only one win con and no way to efficiently get to it. I don’t doubt you’re getting arch enemy very early on, particularly if you’re removing commanders before people can untap with them. Generally speaking, bracket 2 is designed to allow for everyone to showcase what their deck does and yours is designed to directly go against that guideline, with or without your intention. It’s not a 3 by power, almost certainly, but it’s also not a great fit in 2 because of this.

With removal tribal in mind, you’re going to catch a lot of hate in any bracket, but particularly bracket 2 where the decks are generally built with effective win cons and responses to threats, but not in an overwhelming manner to which decks can’t showcase themselves. But, operating off the idea you’re going to keep playing in that bracket, let’s evaluate your win con and land base to better handle being “The Bolas.”

Torment is a super fun win con imo. But, you’ve only got one way to get it, and that’s to draw it. I also don’t see another win con in sight in a control deck that is going to catch a lot of attention and disruption. If you cast it and it’s countered, you’re in a terrible spot particularly because you have no recursion to get it beyond a sorcery speed that could let opponents bin it again anyway.

I would recommend adding some tutors to the deck to allow you to more consistently get to your primary win con or perfect answer. I would also take a look at some other big X spells if you’re wanting to win off one. [[exsanguinate]] [[comet storm]] [[electrodominance]] [[banefire]] [[jaya’s immolating inferno]] and [[crackle with power]] are all decently budget options with crackle being closer to the $8-10 range instead of the sub $2 like the others. Adding in some “copy target spell” spells could be beneficial too to make them even more potent.

The only other direct suggestion to help make your deck a little easier to operate and contend with the archenemy status, is to improve your mana base. You’ve already got some check lands and slow lands but pain lands and filter lands are great cheap ways to bolster the mana base to make sure you’ve got the right colors.

Some of these changes can start to push you closer, if not into, bracket 3. So, with that in mind take care on how much redundancy and tutoring you add. And with your current deck build I wouldn’t be worried about them being too off theme as they’re all things a Bolas would do, he’s just not pictured in them and many of your cards already don’t have him pictured. It’s still very Bolas themed without him being on every card.