I'm building a UW control deck and I think I have a good base, but I need some help. I feel that I have good win cons but the meat of the deck could be improved upon. There is no budget on this deck. Any help is greatly appreciated. Here I'll give you some idea as what I want to do with it:
Mainboard Goals and Ideas: I want this to be a very controlling deck with few creatures designed to draw out the game then use Celestial Colonnade, Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Jace, Architect of Thought as my win con (using Jace, Architect of Thought in conjunction with Elspeth, Sun's Champion and whatever my opponent has to win). I could also use Jace, Architect of Thought as a better Divination or use his +1, stopping my enemies creatures and eventually use his ultimate to win the game with whatever I pick up. Cards like Path to Exile, Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere I feel are instrumental in slowing down aggro decks, while Sphinx's Revelation is just there for stalling with lifegain and drawing. Sphinx's Revelation among other cards have the bonus of drawing/scry, which I need to enable me to pick and choose cards to counter what my opponent is doing and figure out what I need. They also serve the purpose of letting me get lands when I need them, as I want to play as many as I can with the goal of one per turn so as I draw out the game, I can keep drawing it out by being able to pay for more and more spells. Snapcaster Mage is there solely for the purpose of getting some emergency spells out in case I get in a trouble situation, and is more of an insurance policy rather than a creature. It could also be used to get some stuff out when I am in need of good spells. Once Snapcaster Mage is cast it essentially becomes useless besides for cannon fodder if I can't stop an attack with my control. I don't want this to be anything other than an U/W control deck, in the sense I don't suggestions that would turn this into a whole other beast.
Sideboard: I included mainly cards that would benefit me based on the current meta and would allow me to adapt to what I'm facing. Condemn would be to totally replace Path to Exile in case I'm playing eldrazi. Dispel and Spell Snare Would be used against other control decks or aggro decks that have low costing instants that are used to buff up creatures. I think Gideon Jura is a fantasic card for another win con, and all of his abilities help. His +1 can redirect creature attack while buffing him so he is hard to kill, like a combat-based Spellskite. His -2 isn't as good for this deck, but is still incredibly useful incase I need to get rid of a problematic creature. Then his "ultimate" can just be used as another win-con. I feel like just having him on the board will paint a massive target on his head (without his +1), which is good for me because I don't absolutely need his alt to win and it will distract my opponents, giving me more time, and more time is how this deck wins. Archangel of Thune
+
Nyx-Fleece Ram
are an amazing combo if I can manage to get them out there. To do this, since I would probably end up putting in four
Nyx-Fleece Ram
s He wouldn't be much trouble to get out on the battlefield. Additionally,
Nyx-Fleece Ram
is just an great card for this deck still, he is a good blocker which stalls the game, and gains me life which stalls the game. Then once I have my
Nyx-Fleece Ram
s on the board, with Archangel of Thune I can get them massive and swing massive amounts, while flying. To me, this just seems like a great combo.
I originally intended this to be similar to Ivan Floch's winning deck from the M15 protour, just with a few more win cons. But as I continued to do research, I decided that the deck wasn't viable to convert to modern, leaving me with the decklist you see here. However, I did keep some elements from Floch's decklist, such as the Archangel of Thune
+
Nyx-Fleece Ram
combo. Like I said before any help and comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated, as this is my first time trying to build in UW control. I know this decklist is a little unorthodox, but I don't really want it to be just another cookie-cutter U/W control deck. Thank you for your comments, suggestions and just getting to the end of this textwall. Other decklists I used for reference:
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Replace all remand with Mana LeakNeed More RemovalNeed Logic Knot