This is my first attempt at tweaking a well defined build with some new cards. I personally prefer D&T because I believe myself to be a true control player at heart, and nothing is more controlling than preventing the opponent from playing anything. Again, I'm experimenting with the card choices because they're what I feel would play well, but I could be very wrong so any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. As for card choices:
Core
AEther Vial- This deck pretty much doesn't work without it.
Leonin Arbiter- Makes the opponent pay for fetchlands. Also works wonders against Expedition Map.
Aven Mindcensor- More tax for if they pay for Arbiter.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben- Okay, this card is worthy of some discussion. You'd prefer to get Arbiter out turn 2, but making wraths and counterspells cost 1 more isn't bad. Now, I'm running 3 in this list because 1. She's legendary 2. There's Vyrn to cushion her absence (explained later) 3. There's just no room. But I'm wondering since Thalia is so good and she is just playable whenever you draw her is it worth it to make room to put a fourth copy in?
Path to Exile- Considered one of the best removal spells in the format, and rightly so. Because of all the noncreature tax you put on the board you can't afford to put too many of the in your deck, but having Paths to pick apart their most important creatures can be crucial.
Other Parts
Flickerwisp- Arguably one of the best tricks in the deck. The blink effect can be used on everything from the opponent's lands to save your own creatures to reset counters on creatures. The uses of Flickerwisp are only limited to your imagination.
Restoration Angel- Slightly worse than Flickerwisp because of the higher casting cost and it limits the blink effect to only your creatures, but you could still pull off a lot of tricks with it. Plus it also has flash in the case you can't cast it off Vial.
Mangara of Corondor- In my opinion, one of the more versatile removals. Because you can sac it in response to [ex. bolt] it's very resilient and usually results in 2 for 1s. You could also activate the ability and flash in Flickwisp or Restoration Angel and save it while still being able to exile something.
Tectonic Edge/ Ghost Quarter- Combined with all the search tax, Ghost Quarter sometimes works as Strip Mine if you set it up enough. The main goal with these are to lock your opponent out of one of their colors [ex. 3 blue sources for Cryptic Command]. It also gives you the perfect protection against manlands [ex. Celestial Colonnade, Blinkmoth Nexus].
Eiganjo Castle- An extra trick for protecting creatures like Thalia.
New Cards
Vyrn Wingmare- Non-legendary Thalia that fits right above her curve but still in curve for AEther Vial, what? Here's a list of things that go for it: 1. Not legendary 2. Right in curve with AEther Vial 3. Has flying because you win most games off flyers 4. Even if it eats removal, it forces the owner to pay mana roughly equal to Vyrn's casting cost. It can't protect you from creatures as Thalia because it lacks first strike, but it more than makes up for it in usability.
Archangel of Tithes- This cards is borderline stupid. It has built in protection against Twin and Affinity (given you can get it down fast enough). With all the land tax you have going on already your opponent will usually have to chose between attacking you and casting everything they want to. This is a bigger fact than you would think because since almost all your creatures block horribly, so it offers you some combat protection. The fact that it has 5 toughness is also very crucial, as it dodges bolt, helix, electrolyze, Kolaghan's Command, Galvantic Blast, etc. It doesn't dodge Dismember or Path but almost nothing does so I'm fine with that. An extra plus it has (as though it doesn't have enough going for it already) is that it is also non-legendary. Having one to swing and another to just sit there is quite possibly the best feeling in the world.
Card Choices
Judge's Familiar- I like having at least a couple of 1-drops, and this one carries much more than its own weight. Its "pay 1" may seem insignificant, but when the games finish and you start analyzing with your opponent you'll realize how annoying Familiar is for your opponent to play around. It's probably your first play, if you didn't play AEther Vial, so you really couldn't care less if it dies (or better catches a spell). You can also go t1 Vial t2 Thalia with Vial on 1 and protect for casting Thalia. And on top of everything else, it has flying. The alternative is Dryad Militant, which is more meta dependent. The opponent usually doesn't want to wast a spell on it, but it living results in very sad Snapcasters and Goyfs. I like Familiar over it because it just does a lot more against a lot more decks than Militant. The choice is yours thought because in the right environment, a turn 1-2 Militant will give your opponent a very frustrating game.
Ethersworn Canonist- The ultimate tax against Storm and very annoying against most other decks. It practically doesn't affect you because you only have the mana to play 1 spell a turn and you cheat out most of your creatures by AEther Vial anyways. The downside of Canonist is that it is very vulnerable to removal. I've considered putting Eidolon of Rhetoric in its place, because it's still on curve with Vial and has a higher toughness. But I chose Canonist over it mostly because of curve considerations, and also neither does anything against Affinity (Canonist because of obvious reasons, Eidolon because it's way too slow). Again, your choices may be very different based on your build.
Kataki, War's Wage- Awesome against Affinity. Its 1 toughness doesn't matter too much since Affinity doesn't run that much removal. The other option would be Stony Silence, but I like Kataki because if your opponent untaps with it still on the board they'll have to maneuver through a lot of hoops to still be able to effectively beat down. Also, Kataki allows you to play for Vial while Stony Silence just shuts it down, and since most of your lines involves Vial I don't think you can afford to play it.
Leonin Relic-Warder- It takes the slot of Disenchant or Sundering Growth simply because it can be cheated out with AEther Vial, and also has the possibility of shenanigans with Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel. I'm still just trying it out so I don't know how well it works.
Gut Shot- This card doesn't seem like it does a lot, but it is an all-star against Affinity and any deck which uses mana dorks like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch. I really like at least a couple of copies of it in the sideboard.
Akroma, Angel of Fury- It might be weird because you're playing an 8-drop red spell without ever expecting to play 8 lands or red mana, but I find it to be actually a really hard threat to answer. The point of playing it is to cast it on morph and blink it with Flickerwisp or Restoration Angel to flip it up. This card is a nightmare to deal with with control because it dodges about 99% of removal it runs. It also offers a very fast clock so they better deal with it quickly. (A quick side note, it also goes up really well against Baneslayer Angel, Thundermaw Hellkite (sort of), Siege Rhino, and most other creatures.) Some lists run Linvala, Keeper of Silence in Akroma's place for Twin and combo matchups, but Archangel takes care of that pretty well.
Possible Choices
Dismember- It's meta dependent on how much you need removal, but I find Celestial Purge does its job quite well.
Ghostly Prison- I'm on the fence about this card, but ultimately I just don't think this deck needs it.
Spellskite- I love Spellskite, and the main reason I don't run it is because of lack of room. If any of you have suggestions I'm all ears.
Pithing Needle- From naming fetchlands to planeswalkers, Pithing Needle is an answer to a lot of decks. I'm really tempted to make a spot in the side for it, but it all depends on how much you think you need it and what you'll take out.
Again, any suggestions would be much appreciated and I will continue to update any card changes.
EDIT:
Blade Splicer- Archangel has unfortunately underperformed. It's just not fast enough against Affinity and it doesn't do enough against decks like Jund. I've replaced it and a copy of Vryn with the original.
Dryad Militant- The main selling point in testing was against lingering souls. Since most of the damage comes from your flyers, and I refuse to run Serra Angel because it doesn't do anything other than attack and defend, Militant is really good at preventing preboard graveyard shenanigans.
Akroma, Angel of Fury- I've moved it mainboard because in the worst case scenario she's a 6/6 against Tarmogoyf which isn't half bad.
Horizon Canopy- Really good for when you flood and additional colour fixing. I've found 4x Tectonic Edge to be redundant, and making sure you don't flood out is more important.
Ratchet Bomb- I've found this thing is awesome, especially against tokens. Since you can't produce that many colours of mana, this relatively slower Engineered Explosives is actually a really good substitute.
Sundering Growth- Since I'm running Blade Splicer now this is some what more reliable than Leonin Relic-Warder
