I am aware I'm at 62 cards, I just have no idea where to make cuts. Im considering moving the 2x Negate to the sideboard, cutting the 2x Disdainful Stroke but then I feel like 8 counters isn't enough, and I want to add in ~2x Dissipate for things like Deathmist Raptor and to get around Haven. Any thoughts specific to this issue?

Nice deck! You should check out my Esper control. It is super powerful because it has so much more win cons. Please up vote.

I'd say cut out Foul-Tongue Invocation and Narset, Transcendant. The first one because it's pretty useless against aggro deck. The second one, you'll have very hard time protecting it (unless you cast it "late-game" with counterspells in hand and mana to cast them) and :

• Her +1 is ok, 50% of the time. Other than that, it's useless.
• Her -2 is useful only on anti-creature spells, and it's only 9 out of 29 instants/sorceries spell you got

I've been doing countless battles against my mate who plays Esper control. We tried to perfect his deck by testing all cards possible. I play Abzan (with raptor, den and all the classics...) and you'll surely fight a lot of Abzan the 20th. Good thing is, your deck list is strictly identical compared to what we managed to built, except Narset and Foul-Tongue Invocation (well, he has it but in the sideboard).

Still well done mate, +1 and I wish you luck for the 20th. Please pound them all and don't let an Abzan be first.

Thanks for the upvotes!

I agree that Foul-Tongue Invocation is less than amazing against aggro matchups, but against other decks it can be pretty awesome. Against aggro I would sideboard them out to put in Bile Blight. I also need to do some work on the sideboard, I want access to Drown in Sorrow for aggro match ups as well.

Narset Transcendent.... This is one I keep flip-flopping on. I really like her, I do, but you're right, she can be difficult to protect. However, I've found that very little protection can go a long way - her ultimate shuts down many decks and they are forced to take care of her before then. This often means she eats multiple burn spells that otherwise would have been aimed at me. That, coupled with the extra draw power and rebound, is why I've settled at a single copy. However, she does get sideboarded out when I'm playing decks that have more access to black removal, as I don't want to spend all my counter spells keeping her alive.

I have to ask - what cards did your friend settle on instead of FTI and Narset? Other removal? More draw power?

I'm hoping to do well - it'll only be my second Open ever, and I'm really looking forward to it. The group of us that are going are leaving tomorrow afternoon to have a day of playtesting Friday. I'll try to post any changes I make as they happen.

He's got the counterspell that counters spells with CMC 4 or greater (can't remember its name right now), Drown in Sorrow (more flexible than bile blight IMO) and Self-Inflicted Wound. He also have Ugin in main board ! Keep us in touch when you come back next Monday! Go Go Go!!!

That's Disdainful Stroke, and I've got two in the sideboard along with two Negate. I've died too many times to Lightning Strike and Goblin Rabblemaster to keep the Disdainful Stroke in the main-board. I'd rather just have the unconditional counters in the main. Are the Drown in Sorrow and Self-Inflicted Wound in the main or side board?

Drown in sorrow is in the main (just one though) and 2 more are in the side and self-inflicted wound in the side.After some reflexion he decided to mainboard Drown in Sorrow because:

• it kills mana dorks (well a least Elvish Mystic and Rattleclaw Mystic)

• it kills all creatures on warrior-deck, but you probably won't see these decks this weekend

• it kills RDW

• it kills other weird aggro decks

BTW check mine :Tired of losing vs. Abzan ? Me too. it's highly possible you'll fight a similar deck too since it had good result at the last Event in Columbus. Better be prepared than not

Well done mate. May I ask against what type of decks did you win and lose?

Lost round one against G/R dragons, won round two versus Jund Dragons (basically he splashed B for Thoughtseize. Round three I was overrun by an Abzan Collected Company deck - it was just too fast for me to keep up. Round 4 was another Abzan, but without Collected Company I won 2-0. Round 5 I won against Mardu dragons. Round 6 I played the mirror and lost. Round 7 was another loss to Abzan. So basically I saw Abzan and G/R dragons. Thankfully never once played anything that was more aggro than the Collected Company deck, so I was never completely out-paced. Most of my games felt like if I had played slightly smarter I still stood a chance, so I can't complain about any of the match-ups.