Interesting concept, I like where it's going. One simple upgrade might make this a little more flexible, and that's swapping Blessed Alliance for Celestial Flare. It's the same CMC, but the Mana cost is better; vs . In other words, it's strictly better and only runs about $1.50.

I actually really like that card! Thanks for the suggestion.

im confused. I dont see anything in here that mills

Sphinx's Tutelage is the main engine coupled with drawing. Not the fastest, but all the enchantments help balance it. Benthic Infiltrator also pulls its weight with unblockable and ingest. Thassa's Devourer also helps.

I'd swap Anticipate with Telling Time, which is overall better for the same CMC and cheap on the wallet. Since you're running control, Baral, Chief of Compliance and Disallow are really good and help a lot. I'd also trade Pacifisms and similars for Stasis Snare, Oblivion Ring and Journey to Nowhere. Some excelent creature for this deck that can be game finishing are Blessed Spirits and Niblis of Frost.

Great deck, love the idea!

Thanks for the input!! I have the aura enchantments to power up Sage's Reverie, but Blessed Spirits could give me that ramping power that I would be missing from Pacifisms removal.

Burila24 Telling Time is not an upgrade to Anticipate unless you're playing a deck where setting up your next draw is advantageous (like miracles or delver). It's a thing with probability. 90% of the time you will not need 2/3 cards off the top of your deck. There is a big difference between keeping a card that is ok and digging further for one that will win you the game. TLDR: antipate is better simply because it allows you to see more cards in the longterm.

This topic has been beaten to death in the magic community, so if you dont want to take my word for it, here's a few articles to give you far more detailed answers than im willing to:

Scroll down a bit. Patrick Chapin's bits on this topic

reddit discussion

short discussion from this site

Pevira, i just wanted to let you know i haven't forgotten about you. there is a lot i like about your deck, and a few things i dont like. To simplify what would be a very long post from me, i'm just making a deck of my own in this style to give you some ideas of cards you should be looking at. I've been meaning to for awhile now anyway, and i think it will do you a lot more good to let you see a competitive deck of this style, and you can ask any questions you want to about my card choices, than to just have me preach to you. For now though, switch back to anticipate =P

I should have the deck up either tonight or tomorrow

lithium142 ah i see, i suppose my experience with telling times has been better than with anticipate, since i always find use for both cards that i find with telling. But i understand the point of getting 4 cards instead of 3 as well as not blanking the draw. i'd say try with both and see which gives better results on this deck. thanks for the insight though!

np dude. I just feel it's necessary to redirect misinformation, or you end up with a lot of players not building to their potential.

Here's the deck link! Teaching your opponent how to play without a deck

now, it's NOT a budget build. I got fetches and everything in there. there will likely be some cards you really like, but dont like the pricetag of. that's fine; talk with me, I can help you work out cheaper replacements and powerful alternatives. remember, this list is just meant to be a starting point for you. The 3 cards i would strongly recommend you get are Ghostly Prison, Wall of Omens, and Thought Scour. they are cheap, and some of the strongest cards you could possible buy for your build. if you can afford it, i'd highly recommend Archive Trap. it works great as a finisher, and in tandem with Path to Exile and Ghostly Prison, you can suprise an opponent very early in a game with a free cast of it. you can also use Shelldock Isle to cheat it for 1 mana, but that's less fun.

anyway, be sure to playtest it (buttton for that on the left of the decklist if you dont know), and let me know how you'd like to incorporate things. If there's anything you like, and what you dislike. I wanna help you make a deck that YOU will be happy with. Also, I know you're a kitchen table player, so if you want to be that guy, let me know what kind of decks your friends play, and i could gear yours up to be almost unstoppable against them =P

lithium142, thanks for the help. First off, what is your reasoning on Sphere of Saftey vs Ghostly Prison? Ghostly Prison is better in a vacuum because of a guaranteed 2-cost, but I feel like Sphere is better in this deck due to the number of enchantments present, even if it has a relatively high CMC.

I think I will drop 2 Islands, and then replace 2x Cathar's Companion with 3x Wall of Omens, and 3x Benthic Infiltrator with 4x Thought Scour. I feel like I have too much mana by the middle of the deck, especially with the double mana coming from Azorius Chancery, and the other suggestions you gave me work well to my liking in play tests.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Path to Exile? I like the card, but not the price at this point. Eventually it might make its way into this deck, but I am a broke college student at this point!

One last question at this point: what is the big advantage to expensive non-basic lands, such as Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, or the like?

Also, here is a link to the WIP version: Control/Mil WIP.

What are your thoughts for Temple of Enlightenment and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage for a deck like this? Temple of Enlightenment gives scrying when it enters play, and Tamiyo can serve as another line of defense/annoyance. She does have a high CMC compared to most of the rest of the deck.

And yes, my sideboard is all kinds of messy. That is another project.

Ima start with path before I forget them. Some cheaper alternatives would be Sunlance, Journey to Nowhere, Condemn. If I think of others I'll post them. Path is getting reprinted in a couple weeks. So keep an eye on it =P should be cut in half at least.

What exactly do you mean by too much mana by the middle of the deck?

So Ghostly Prison is better specifically because it can come down 2 turns earlier. Sphere of Safety is a finisher of sorts in white control. That's in a deck running 4 Ghostly Prison, Runed Halo, Nevermore. By itself, sphere is just too slow. Which btw, I tried making a version of this with mostly enchantments, but sadly it made Sphinx's Tutelage not work very well. Need those cantrips! Anyway, Ghostly Prison is better in a deck whose win condition is not control, because it keeps you alive long enough to achieve your goal. If you were in a hard control deck, Ghostly Prison would keep you alive to play Sphere of Safety.

So.. Lands. Brace yourself, this is gonna be long.

This is always a rough topic because lands are hands down the largest barrier for entry new players face with this game. Unless you want to play mono colored decks, shock lands (like Hallowed Fountain) just make your deck better. Lands that enter tapped are inherently bad unless they do something game-changing. This is because they will frequently cause you to delay playing something when you need to have it out that turn. Shock lands allow you to make that choice. If you need something you can take 2 damage and get it out. If you don't need it, let it enter tapped. This is where fetch lands come in. Fetch lands (like Flooded Strand) make your shock lands better. This is by allowing you to make the desicion to have your shock land enter tapped or untapped on your opponents turn. So as an example, let's say it's turn 2 and you could play Remand or Thought Scour. If your second land is a shock, you'd have to shock yourself to keep mana for Remand. If you play a fetch, you can wait for your opponent to make the first move. If they don't play anything you care about, you can just fetch at the end of their turn and get your shock land tapped. But if they had played something you don't like, you could fetch right then and there, gotten your shock land, or even a basic land, untapped and countered their spell. It's all about giving yourself more options at any given point in the game. In addition, fetches get more lands out of your deck, increasing the probability that you'll draw cards which will win you the game. And it doesn't matter with your deck, but say you were running a three color deck; we'll say . A Flooded Strand can fetch Breeding Pool, Hallowed Fountain, and Temple Garden. That means a single land gets you any of your 3 colors. Quite the game changer.

Those are the 2 most important kinds of lands in modern. However, you're bound to see others with more specific functions. For instance Mystic Gate is called a filter land. It's pretty bad early on in a game, but not useless. Later in a game it enters untapped without having to shock yourself, so it's great for longer games; thus it fits great into control and tempo decks. The last one that I think is critical to understand is fastlands. fastlands fit into very fast decks and look like Botanical Sanctum. They work best here, because the downside doesn't matter much if you just win before one would enter tapped. Other decks can play them, but usually only 1 or 2. Something like infect will run 4. Also, Google future sight special lands. They're all completely different, but I'm sure you'll see a few of them.

I hope that helps. Hopefully my lands explanation wasn't too long winded. lemme know if you have any other questions! =)

just saw the second comment. Tamiyo would not benefit you. both of her abilities are subpar for modern. In EDH shes a powerhouse because of her draw ability, but in modern it will probably wiff more often than it helps you. You mentioned her for defense, and there are several planeswalkers with better defensive abilities. some are even quite cheap. Jace, Architect of Thought is one of the better ones. But I think you're better off without him. maybe test it tho.

you hadn't read my first post when you asked about Temple of Enlightenment, so read that for a detailed explanation. long story short, I dont like the temple lands. Entering tapped is just such a huge drawback for a dual land. I explained the qualities of the fetches and shocks, and yes, they are the best way to build a manabase in modern. period. however, I have a budget alternative. Glacial Fortress, Prairie Stream, Port Town. you'll want 4 Prairie Streams before anything else. they are the glue that holds this manabase together. without them, the other two are much less consistent.

boom, i just saved you $100 =P

Ha ha thanks!! I realized that Temple of Enlightenment's Scry 1 effect is not really needed here, as I have other scryers. Also, it enters tapped.

Suggestions on how to change up my lands? Something like this, +3 Port Town +4 Glacial Fortress +4 Prairie Stream, but how many Plains/Islands should I keep in the deck?

What do you think of Disrupt vs Negate? They only counter non-creature spells, so should I worry about countering creatures and use a different card?

Here are the other changes I am making.

+2 Claustrophobia -2 Sleep Paralysis (No brainer, lower mana cost. If I am paying for other things, I might as well ditch the 2 Sleep Paralysis I have on hand for Claustrophobia)

-2 Sphere of Safety -2 Pacifism +4 Ghostly Prison

To answer my own question about creature removal: I really hope Path to Exile goes down in price when MM3 drops.

That looks like the way to go for your lands. as for basics. that will be a lot easier to determine once you have the playable cards more fleshed out. cant determine what colors you'll need more without knowing how many vs mana symbols you have in the deck. for now, split it 50/50, and we can edit it later. 22 lands is a good place to start for this deck since we have so many cantrips.

Disrupt is interesting. that's a super obscure card XD tells me you're doing some research tho =) anyway, I dont like it for the same reason Mana Tithe usually takes a back seat to Spell Pierce. 1 mana is super easy to pay. and negate is just very situational to run as your only counterspell. ideally Remand will be the best way to go. if that's not an option right now, probably use Mana Leak.

Claustrophobia is certainly an improvement, but i think we can do better. when it comes down to it, didn't Pacifism accomplish the same thing? I'd say bring that card back in place of Claustrophobia, or if you can get them, Journey to Nowhere is a slightly better version of Pacifism. I kind of feel the same about Singing Bell Strike. like it falls into the same category. you can find better cards.

And for the last bit. YES! Ghostly Prison is huge!

I do have a question for you. I've noticed that you haven't taken to very much of the mill that i suggested. some of it was expensive, so i get that, but i guess im curious if you'd rather just build a control deck? it seems to be what you're leaning towards, and i think you could make it happen for cheaper. you already have the beginnings of it. let me know. it's never too late to change direction.

Ok my reasoning with ditching Pacifism for Claustrophobia is that with Claustrophobia, tap abilities can't be activated. But along that same vein, Journey to Nowhere doesn't allow any abilities to be activated!

I think a big question that needs to be answered by me is how powerful I want Sage's Reverie to be. Sage's is what is keeping me from dropping the auras for other enchantments. Blessed Spirits plus Sage's Reverie gets big fast, and with flying is a big threat. Plus it can serve as at least a draw 2-3 reliably.

In regards to Remand, why is it so ideal, besides the cantrip? Won't you have to deal with the same spell next turn if they really want it out? Vs Mana Leak, where it is countered to the graveyard. What is the competitive advantage here?

In short, how worth it is Sage's Reverie?

Sage's Reverie seems decent if only for the draw effect. its other ability is easy to replicate in modern. there's Eidolon of Countless Battles, or better yet, just dropping Ethereal Armor. The problem you're going to run into problems because your deck isnt focused on that kind of strategy. it also isnt focused on mill, or on control. it will be extremely beneficial to pick a strategy (or even 2) and build purely into that.

one enchantment strategy that might interest you is Don't Touch my Spirits (Turn 5 Win). this is an enchantment control deck, using lifegain-aggro as a win condition. i picked his because he has a great explanation behind all of his card choices.

as for Remand vs Mana Leak. that's the exact kind of question you should always be asking yourself. because in reality Remand isnt always better. Remand is more valuable to you because it comes out better in more situations. In modern you'll find that more often than not, just denying them the spell in that moment is all you need. remember what i said about lands that enter tapped. They can set you back a turn. remand does just that, and replaces itself in your hand. if you want some more detail, here's a great discussion on this topic:

why is remand so good.

I'd recommend reading past the first explanation. try and find some of the original comments and not get caught up reading too many replies to those comments. there are a couple judges that replied on here, and it's just some good insight into high level players' heads.

Ok it's been awhile. Here is my update on the build:

+4 Path to Exile+4 Remand+2 Archive Trap+1 Sphere of Saftey

-3 Claustrophobia-3 Negate-2 Thassa's Devourer-1 Sage's Reverie-1 Blessed Spirits-1 Singing Bell Strike

Again, this is a change to what is on the WIP deck, not this on. Let me know your thoughts.

Deck updated. Should I include another copy of my Jace for redundancy?

awesome dude! this deck looks seriously solid now! Jace is slow, but he seems decent. if Jace, the Mind Sculptor was legal, that'd be the way to go, lol. anyway, i'd keep it at one. try and gauge for yourself how your games go with him. if you find that when you get him in hand, you're playing him and winning games off the back of doing so, then put in a second one.

The risk is that you may find you get him in hand and either cant cast him, or doing so doesnt help you much. if that's the case, swap him. but again, only you can reliably gauge that.

One thing I realized that i thought you might want to know. Anticipate is typically a solid replacement for Serum Visions. Unfortunately for you, we're also looking for ways of triggering Sphinx's Tutelage, and Anticipate doesn't actually draw you a card, and so will not trigger Sphinx's Tutelage. Telling Time is the same problem, and all the other cantrips that would work are too expensive in mana cost to be worth running. mm17 just hit, so Serum Visions is super cheap right now. if you can, I'd advise picking em up.

Overall though, this deck looks really fun to play right now =)

I actually picked up 4 copies of Serum Visions and like 10 copies of Path to exile off EBay for a good deal. Pretty stoked about that. For now I am just using basic lands, saving up for the non-basics. But yeah, the deck is a blast!! Thanks for your help!! Now to retreat into a cave and formulate an elvish tribal Commander deck to unleash...

haha, nice! If you ever want deck tips on anything else, feel free to friend me, and hit me up whenever you want! =)

good luck with elves, lol. I've gotten beaten plenty of times to tribal elves. losing on T3 in commander is always a bit nuts

edit: any idea who you want as your commander? =P

One idea I have looked at is Rhys the Redeemed, but I have had like 15 seconds to look after this. School is brutal, getting towards finals now. I also really like Kin-Tree Invocation...

awesome! I have a brutal Rhys the Redeemed token deck. i've seen some really cool elf builds for it too. There are a lot of options for EDH elves tho, so maybe this forum elf commanders could give you some ideas. even some more unorthodox ones, I saw mentioned in here.