When we are the crowd favorite, we get all the advantages. Clearly, our number one priority should be to get the people going, if we can do that then all of the resources will fall into our laps.
If I'm being honest, I'm already running out of ideas to make this strangely themed primer funny.... But I'm too deep - I'm all in!
For this deck, instant speed card draw is where it's at. We want to hold up mana and represent answers at all points of the game, basically. We do have some engine cards as well, because duh, and also a few different ways to setup miracles that we will go over again in a later section.
Notion Thief - A spicy creature to start things off right! If there is anything better than drawing cards, it has to be drawing other people's cards! I think Notion Thief is an amazing card, and can quickly turn a game around when played at the opportune moment.
Solemn Simulacrum - As per our "Protein" section, Sad Robot does work. Definite value play.
Baleful Strix - Another value card. Strix does a lot of little things that add up to an amazing card. Replaces itself immediately, smooths our early game, and of course plays protection against stupid quick combat based draws. Great card!
Thirst for Knowledge - I love to get thirsty. This card is obviously at it's best with some excess artifacts to discard, but with a lot of other card advantage already in the deck, the ability to filter out useless answers or uncastable miracles is not a bad ability. Plus, it helps fuel up our graveyard for big Delve Spells. The ability to play most of our card draw spells at instant speed is also key.
Esper Charm - I love charm spells. Esper Charm in particular is useful. At it's base it is an instant speed Divination, and when we need to clear the way against an opponent on fumes in the late game or remove that problematic enchantment it makes those modes available.
Ancient Excavation - I think basic landcycling is a powerful effect to replace a land with for some decks. Ancient Excavation is also powerful when we don't need to cycle it, allowing us to sculpt an ideal hand and stock up our graveyard.
Fact or Fiction - A do-it-all classic draw spell that takes on extra power in our build as a way to play politics or stock the graveyard. If you have a potential ally in the wings, choose him/her to sort your piles and reap the rewards.
Pull from Tomorrow - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Pull is a new favorite of mine, as it maintains total card parity for the mana cost when compared with Blue Sun's Zenith, but it helps fuel the graveyard a bit and always digs 1 extra card.
Blue Sun's Zenith - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Zenith is a classic, and can be re-used or found with tutor effects for extra value. Very corner case for this build, but it can technically kill opponents as well.
Sphinx's Revelation - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Sphinx's Rev, standard all-star and favorite of control players everywhere, just does it all. Not many cards simultaneously bury the opponent in card advantage and pull out of reach of the combat step in the same swing.
Dig Through Time - One of our two Delve spells. Very strong card selection, at instant speed, with cost modifiers. What's not to love?
Rhystic Study - Old Faithful. While this card can be annoying from a gameplay perspective, it is too good not to include. Often draws us 4+ cards.
Underworld Connections - In this deck, I actually prefer to Phyrexian Arena. The arena can eventually put us in awkward spots with our life total, and force us to use removal on our own permanent. Connections let's us draw on our own time, and cancel it whenever we want. Often this deck just has enough gas anyways, so the ability to turn the faucet on and off can be nice, and typically not detrimental to spend 1 mana per turn on it.
Brainstorm - A cantrip effect that is key for enabling our miracles. The more shuffle effects the better, but we are typically saving this for a Miracle setup.
Sensei's Divinining Top - Our most important miracle enabler. Very strong effect that can not only re-order cards to hit a miracle, but also hit miracles on our opponent's turns with the second draw ability. Fantastic Legacy port, one of the more expensive cards I have left in the deck.
Conch Horn - An old school effect that I discovered recently. Another way to enable a miracle similar to a Brainstorm.
Thaumatic Compass
- A guaranteed way to hit land drops, that eventually flips into Maze of Ith #2!
Arch of Orazca - Getting value from the land slot is key. While this will rarely be our only way to draw cards, and certainly less efficient than other options, sometimes this can help us out of jams or even just be used to help preserve better draw and use our mana efficiently.
Thawing Glaciers - Slow as hell, but I love that this let's us never miss another land drop. Control decks already don't want to miss land drops, but doubly so with Dakkon as our commander.
Notable Exclusions
You probably have ideas from other Esper Control decks that you will suggest, and I absolutely encourage you to do so! Here are some cards that I have tinkered with or used to be considered worth a slot that I no longer feel the same way about, or that I would like but do not currently own.
Scroll Rack - I own a gold-bordered Rack, but I'm trying to cut those from my decks recently. Also, with the intent of this deck as a 75% deck, some people may not view it that way when I start pimping out like this. That being said, it is the Perfect miracle enabler. Probably need to find a copy.
Land Tax - When I cut Scroll Rack, I cut the Tax as well. It can make games draw in a way that feels actually worse than Sensei's Divining Top sometimes - I feel like I only have so much bandwidth for clunky annoying search effects before I stop enjoying my own deck.
Weathered Wayfarer - Another cut post Scroll Rack. A great card, but I have another deck that fits with the land search theme far better.
Treasure Cruise - A great delve effect, but I feel like without a high fetch count it is too clunky. Dig Through Time is superior and there is only so much room for delve cards.
Alms Collector - I may eventually add this in as Notion Thief #2. It is clearly less powerful than the Thief, but it is not a bad effect. My main issue is that it does nothing against Rhystic Study, Phyrexian Arena, etc type engines that draw 1 card at a time with regularity.
Phyrexian Arena - I love Arena, but I think in this deck it can be a dangerous card. Often we have to take pot shots early from some random jank like Managorger Hydra until we get a reasonable mana to hold up, or some other type of defense. Arena can pressure or kill us while we're trying to win in the long game.