You have far too many creatures/planeswalkers, your hand is going to be clogged a lot. I'd cut down to Snappy, Tasigur or Angler, and just 2 or 3 walkers. Replace them with more control spells.

thanks. i really like geist, he just swings big and cant be removed. also, jura is the most useful so i think i keep 3 of him. 12 plainswalkers and creatures isnt a lot, is it. to me it doesnt feel like it is, but i usually play aggro. what control cards should i add

As a non-control player I can tell you that you want at least 1X Spell Pierce. If nothing else, other players knowing that card is in your deck somewhere allows you to bluff by leaving up 1 blue mana instead of 2 - which can be huge in the early game. Also, Dispel is great against other Control decks.

Most control players will tell you to cut down on Gideon and Detention Sphere for a couple more Serum Visions and maybe a Gitaxian Probe. A major problem with control is running 25 lands (so you hit enough land drops to reliably cast Cryptic Command or a boardwipe). After you've set up to hit your first 4-6 land drops, you really don't want to draw any more land - you need gas in the form of counterspells, and finishers. Stuff like Serum Visions helps sort this out. And better deck manipulation means you can run fewer of cards that you don't want to see in the early game - like Gideon.

One thing some control players might argue with me on is suggesting that if you only want to run very few cantrips, you should consider Telling Time and Anticipate. They dig deep and get you a nice card selection. They haven't made a huge impact in Modern, mostly because of the 2-mana costs. But, I think they're worth it because they're instants. Lets say you hold up 2 mana for Remand, but your opponent doesn't do anything on their turn that you really need to counter - you can then use the mana you held up to get a great draw and set up the next one. Serum Visions is basically better, but if you only run a small number of cantrips, I say make them count.

Good start, but as always there's room for improvement. I'm a little low on time as I write this, so I'm just going to give it to you straight without tons of explanation. This really is a good first attempt, but I'm gonna hack it apart.

Cut Gideon. He's not worth it. You'll tap out to pay him, then lose the next turn most of the time. When playing against control people hoard their cards then jam them through when you're low on mana, then that's the game. Even if they don't win the next turn, you have much better wincons. Planeswalkers are unfortunately not great in modern control right now.

Add 4 Lingering Souls. It's the only reason to play esper over grixis or jeskai. It is insane.

Cut back to 23-24 lands. You'll get flooded out on 25 a lot of the time. Also on your manabase, generally Creeping Tar Pit is the preferred manland because it's unblockable and cheaper, so you can leave more mana up for counterspells. Because you're playing cryptics, you want to minimize the amount of non-blue lands. I'd cut godless alogether, drop the fountains back to 2, and drop the graves back to 2. You don't want to lose any more life than you have to. Increase the number of fetchlands, because although they're also lifeloss, it's less lifeloss and they're more consistent. Run 4 each of Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand and cut all 4 Misty Rainforest because they only fetch blue. You need to have basics because Blood Moon will shut you down if you don't. 3 Island, 1 Swamp, and 1 Plains is about right. I usually prefer Ghost Quarter over Tectonic Edge because of affinity and infect, but tec edge is much better against slower decks like BGx, twin, etc. Quarter can stop the turn 4 tron, which is very notable, but a lot of people do prefer tec edge. It's personal preference.

Cut Geist. It's a great card, but it doesn't add anything. You should cut down to 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, 4 Snapcaster Mage, 1 Vendilion Clique, and 4 Lingering Souls. Those plus 2-3 manlands comprises your wincons.

Detention Sphere is sorcery-speed Abrupt Decay-able removal. Not a good modern control card. Cut all 4.

Here's an interesting idea: Supreme Verdict is great in the current meta, but it's slow and sometimes dead. Keep 1 because it's super good, but try adding 1 Engineered Explosives. Seriously this card is so underplayed in modern right now because it can hit anything, and usually hits multiple things. It's more effective vs merfolk, infect, affinity, and twin.

I'd run 2-3 Esper Charm. Instant speed is why it's playable. Card draw eot is great to help you pull ahead, card discard is detrimental to some decks, and enchantment hate is always nice to have.

To be honest, I'm not sure the right amount of cantrips. You should definitely have 4 Thought Scour. You use it to mill yourself. This gives you more Snapcaster Mage targets, delve fodder for Tasigur, and it can potentially mill a Lingering Souls which is pure value. It may look silly, but because it's instant-speed and cantrips, it's worth it. It accelerates your game plan, which is exactly what you want to be doing in control.

As for Serum Visions, I have no idea what the right number is. Current grixis control lists run 4, but they're much more sorcery speed than esper.

For your counters, run 3 Cryptic, 2 leak, 1 Dispel, 2 Remand, and 2 Spell Snare. You can tweak it from there if you wish, but that's a good starting point.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I'd add a sideboard too because those things are important. Good luck!

As long as you are playing Esper, Esper Charm and Lingering Souls tend to be pretty good.

Mana Leak and Remand are also good, but 4 copies each might be a bit much. You could try running something like 3 Mana Leak 2 Remand, and add in some Inquisition of Kozilek.

Gideon Jura is very good, but I'd probably only play 2. At 5 mana he is a bit costly, and you rarely want to see a second copy.

Figag Another big card that often gets overlooked from Esper is Esper Charm. I've been playing Esper for a few months now, always placing at FNM whenever I do play Esper, and Esper Charm is very, very good -- especially alongside Rev and Souls.

@tclaw12 Our help is needed!

So, my immediate thoughts:

• Firstly, this list looks more midrangey than control. I play a draw-go version that aims to take the game VERY long and win with White Sun's Zenith and Celestial Colonnade beats. However, I understand the style preference, so I'll suggest things for this strategy. I'll link my personal list at the end if you're interested.
• 3x Gideon is way too much. You don't need to worry about drawing him, you'll get there. The most I'd play is 2.
• 4x Detention Spheres is way too much too -- it's very fragile, especially to Abrupt Decay, which sees a lot of play. I'd play 1 or 2, and no more.
• Remand isn't the best here, since Leak is your go-to. I'd play 2-3 Remand so you have better draws when you're behind. A decent replacement for one is Logic Knot.
• I feel like you could benifit from Thought Scour. It fuels Tasigur and Lingering Souls while giving you Snapcaster targets. Just throwing it out there.
• You want 4 Serums for a similar reason to why I suggested Scour.
• I highly suggest a Go for the Throat and a Dismember, as well as the 2nd Supreme Verdict.
• Your mana is a little wierd. I'd suggest playsets of both Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand, with 2x Hallowed Fountain, 2x Watery Grave, and a Godless Shrine to accompany them. I also think 2x Creeping Tar Pit would really help.

My personal list:

How much time is left in the round?

Modern TheAnnihilator

SCORE: 3 | 20 COMMENTS | 346 VIEWS

And I actually remember that I had a tap-out (or midrangey) version before I switched to Draw-Go:

Who ever said anything about Grixis Control?

Modern TheAnnihilator

SCORE: 0 | 3 COMMENTS | 100 VIEWS

TheAnnihilator I had in my novel, somewhere in the middle. But yeah, that card's awesome.

ok. that was a lot to take in. i think i took most suggestions. i need some help cutting down 4 more cards, and still some help refining. thanks a ton guys

I'd cut a Remand, a Spell Pierce, and the Gitaxian Probes to get to 60.

However, as much as I love Esper Charm, it really fits better in a draw-go list. This list (and very Esper list) really needs 4 Path to Exiles. So, I'd cut them for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Paths.

Oh, and I just noticed this -- 4x Snapcatser mage is great when you're playing Lightning Bolt and such, but in Esper you can't play more than 3, and I actually recommend 2 copies here. You already have plenty of competition for the graveyard between Tasigur, Lingering, and Snap; and Snappy is almost always a 4-mana spell here, which means you have 8 (!) four-mana spells (4 Snap, 2 Cryptic, 2 Verdict) along with a 5 drop. That's a little too steep, as you may flood on them without enough gas to get you to those turns.

I suggest cutting 2 Snaps to fit in the 3rd and 4th Serum Visions.

Also, manabase tweaks:
-1x Godless Shrine, -3x Seachrome Coast --> +2x Celestial Colonnade, +2x Darkslick Shores

This change lets you cast either T1 Inquisition of Kozilek or Serum Visions/Thought Scour off of Darkslick, and more threats that 1) fix your mana and 2) don't cost you any deck slots (the Colonnades) are great.

ok, i really like the idea of having a plainswalker, but gideon just doesnt feel right. who should i add

The tips I gave was for draw-go control. As theannihilator has said, they're not all great in a midrange deck. Check out Esper Twix (Featured by Ali Aintrazi - TCG Player) if you want to see a sweet esper midrange deck that you can take tips from. It has a 1-of Sorin. The other way to go is for a Restoration Angel-themed deck.

Good luck!

If you are on the Geist of Saint Traft plan, you are going to need a lot of protection for it. I'd consider going up to around 6 Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek and 4 Path to Exile. You could also try Valorous Stance as a 1-2 of as it kills larger threats and protects your creatures. If you are looking for a Planeswalker, Elspeth, Knight-Errant works well with Geist of Saint Traft but also does work on it's own.

Consider dropping Gitaxian Probe, Supreme Verdict (though you probably want some in the SB), and Thought Scour.

Looks really good.

thanks.

@car: I like the stratagy a lot and definitly think that with some really fine tuning and productive playtesting, this could be a ridiculously good deck. Ill try and help you all the way through this process.

thanks. i really need to start thinking about sideboard.

@car: depending on what your meta game looks like there will be different configuration of SB. Spellskite is necessary in a control build as is Negate/Spell Pierce. Stony Silence wrecks a lot of decks so it is good as a 2 of. Thoughtseize is good too and so is Flashfreeze and Celestial Purge. Disenchant can also work well depending on what decks you are going to be playing. Other then that I like the deck.

I would also go to a 1/1 split of Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter. Those aggro decks can be a pain in the neck.

@car: on afterthought... Spellskite is OP, but may not be needed...

Check this out. It's an esper brew primer of sorts. Lots of useful information you can use.

thanks. definitly helpful. i think finks goes in sideboard, but sorin replaces gideon. -1 geist

ok. I'm trying to make this deck a little more budget. its working so far. what are some good big late game hitters to replace geist? also, how can i move the price down a little more. unless you guys want to pay for the deck...

Well, Cryptics aren't really that great in midrangey versions of Esper, so you could prolly do w/o it. Additionally, the case is the same with the 3rd Snappy, though the first 2 are pretty essential.

Honestly, though, the mana base is prolly the hardest to replace. Maybe Glacial Fortress for Mystic Gate? Otherwise, nothing else is very replaceable.

Oh, I just realized you don't have any basic lands in here... but that's why you play Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta. Blood Moon sees a lot of play, so basics are 100% essential. I feel like you need 2 Island 1 Swamp 1 Plains at least. Also, so many shocklands isn't necessary, since you can search them up with the fetches too. My suggestion:

-1x Watery Grave, -1x Hallowed Fountain, -1x Darkslick Shores, -1x Mystic Gate --> +2 Island, 1x Swamp, 1x Plains

I like this build. As a primarily UW player, consider running 4x Path to Exile--really great removal. Also consider Murderous Cut.

As TheAnnihilator said, Blood Moon is no joke, get in more basics.

One card I really like is Shadow of Doubt and it fits your colors perfectly. IT shuts down fetches, makes paths and ghost quarters better, and shuts down cards that search.