I don't know who made the decision to unban Sword of the Meek and Ancestral Vision, but I want to shake their hand.
I've always liked U/W Control, but it never had the ability to consistently regain the life lost before you were able to stabilize. Another major issue I found with it was that it relied to much on single finishers that typically lacked evasion. The best ideas I had found were Myth Realized and the OG Gideon Jura. Myth Realized was incredible as part of a tempo package, where I added a full set of Vapor Snags to complement the other full sets of Paths and Serum Visions. If cast T1, it typically reached the 8/9 p/t range throughout the game, and even if cast mid to late game would grow to the point where it could block a goyf comfortably. Gideon was great when it stuck around, but as aggro took over the meta post-twin banning it was harder and harder to make it last more than a turn.
The thopter-sword combo fills that hole incredibly well. It can come into play as soon as T3 and start generating value. It allows you to go wide and gain back life, while most importantly not requiring you to tap out on your turn. This leaves you free to hold open your mana for counterspells, draw spells, and Path. Ancestral Visions works incredibly well, too. It gives you great digging power while costing only a single mana. With the life-gain and chump-blockers from the thopter combo, it's easy to stay alive long enough for the spell to pop.
All in all, the new banlist changes have made one of my favorite decks even better. I feel that control might actually be viable thanks to the changes, and might actually impact the meta in a relevant way.
