Ignore my initial point, I read over where it says "from outside the game, OR IN EXILE"

However I still think it's not worth playing. Emrakul is 1 win condition in a planeswalker centric deck. If opponent even sees Emrakul in game 1, then they may have IO for game 2, at which point they've brought in a very narrow card that only affects 8% of your total deck (and doesn't affect the board state).

In fact, they are likely to board out most creature removal seeing as in a 10 turn game, they are likely to see 1-2 creatures (and I wouldnt bring in IO just for jace)

If you cast Emrakul and they survive you taking their turn, then exile it with a declaration, you would still need to draw the coax to get it back. If that slot was an emrakul, you wont waste 3 mana getting a copy of emrakul, because you'll have one.

As riddlebox said, Infinite Obliteration is a card. people play it for cards like emrakul. if they IO both my emrakuls, that is a whole win condition down the drain.

They will likely not have it game 1. And if they even see emrakul, and bring it in for game 2/3, its a very narrow solution to one angle of attack this deck has.

My point is that those two SB slots could be much more appropiately used by moving emrakul from SB to MB and dropping fathom feeder

First order of business: rotation! What is being lost with rotation:

MAIN BOARD

• Narset Transcendent
• Dark Petition
• Languish
• Silumgar's Command
• Ultimate Price
• Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip

SIDE BOARD

• Dragonlord Silumgar
• Duress
• Infinite Obliteration

So overall I am not particularly losing a major chunk of the deck but losing baby Jace is pretty big, and even more so is losing Languish. This opens up 14 slots in the main board, and 5 slots in the sideboard.

I also honestly think that with the rotation of Jace, that I can honestly cut Oath of Jace from the deck. It still would be good, and I still am going to run a good enough amount of walkers to get advantage from Scry, BUT having to discard 2 cards was offset by Jace's -3 ability, something I no longer have so I will look for other card draw if possible, for not it is getting cut.

I am also going to run without Coax from the Blind Eternities, and see how it goes, which also mean I no longer need a second Emrakul in the side, and I especially don't need random Fathom Feeder as well. This brings the open spots in the main up to 19, and the open slots in the side to 7. Actually...make that 18 spots in the main, and 6 in the side, due to the fact that I feel like moving Descend upon the Sinful from the main to the side.

Will leave the deck "unfinished" as of now, and will try to "finish" it soon. Meanwhile, suggestions are welcome.

I really like the new walker, Dovin Baan. He is an awesome control/tempo walker and helps kind of offset ob nixilis for the draw.

Prophetic Prism would be nice because draw and color fixing.

Consul's Power (not on here yet) is right up your alley. Slows the game down a lot. Fragmentize is a must in the upcoming meta. Kambal, Consul of Allocation is great for life gain and the mirror. Lost Legacy might be good to pull and spot removal for your walkers.

Noxious Gearhulk as a one of might be good. high-ish cost, but a huge life swing if you kill and emrakul.

and finally, everyone's favorite fox, Filigree Familiar

maddoxmtg

Dovin Baan is definately going to be included.

Probably not going to run Prophetic Prism, I feel like the land base for Esper right now is good enough and using a couple of slots for mana fixing when they could be used for threats/answers instead is a no-go here. Spending 2 mana to draw a card is not very exciting either.

Consul's Power, while it is good, I have only considered it as a sideboard tech. This is going to be very good against the aggro/token gen decks that will come up, and I suppose it is especially good against vehicle decks as it slows down when they can Crew them. Not sure if I want this in the main, would all depends how aggressive the format is going to be after rotation.

Fragmentize is another card that I will definitely include in the sideboard since obviously artifacts will be heavily played.

Kambal, Consul of Allocation is definitely interesting, and is definitely pretty good against control decks, possible SB tech.

Lost Legacy is something I was thinking about as a possible replacement for Infinite Obliteration, it's a just a matter of whether allowing them to draw up to 4 cards is a good thing or not.

Noxious Gearhulk and Cataclysmic Gearhulk, are both something I considered as a one or two of.

Filigree Familiar seems like a sideboard tech against aggro. Really reminds me of that lion guy who gave you 3 life upon ETB that Esper decks used as SB a few rotations ago.

I have an idea of what to include, I just haven't really haven't gotten the time to sit down and add it. I will for now change the name of the deck.

Note that Lost Legacy only gives them a card if you pull from their hand, cards pulled from deck and graveyard do not draw them anything.

Wooops! Good catch. I completely misread it and stopped reading at "...for each card exiled".

DISCLAIMER I wrote this as I was updating the deck at the same time, so if things get weird, or I go back on my own word mid-way this comment.....well now you know why :)

I threw some cards in the deck to at least get it into a "playable" shape. Let's start with saying that I feel like running too many walkers felt very clunky, and will likely stray away from that in this deck. I feel like Jeskai is a better super-friends color at the moment, and even more so after rotation. That means I will likely sahpe this to be slightly less walker centered; the deck as of right now has 11 walkers, while post rotation I will likely run at most 6.

That said, here are some thoughts on the addition/changes I made; let's start out with the walkers.

I feel like post rotation there are going to be a lot of tokens being made, I could be terribly wrong, but I feel like Servo token centered decks will be a thing, and I feel like being able to reliably getting Liliana, the Last Hope and being able to shoot down Servos will be useful; which means, that for now I will run 2 copies of Lili in the main and will SB Ob Nixilis Reignited as a tool against mid-range/control decks.The addition of Dovin Baan seems relatively obvious as the card is better than same are making it out to be, and he is a good replacement for Narset Transcendent. Sorin will stay in, he is just a good card. I am considering trying to fit in Jace, Unraveler of Secrets but not sure how I feel about him.

Let's move onto removal; after all, what is a control deck if it doesn't hold a solid removal suite. As it has proven itself so far Grasp of Darkness is amazing removal and I will keep 4 copies in the main. Moved one ruinous from the site to the main, because why not? I feel like I am going to be seeing Chandra, Torch of Defiance quite a bit. I am going to add 3 copies of Declaration in Stone to the main; while I am not a massive fan of all of this Sorcery speed removal, I feel like tokens will be a thing and being able to pseudo-board-wipe will be nice. It's also worth noting that there are a few decent recursion engines that people will play post rotation so I feel being able to exile something is going to be good, and not just that but Declaration also deals with Emrakul and Ulamog both. Murder is in the side as 1 copy of, and will stay as such, not sure it's worth playing in the main, and honestly I am very tempted to just cut it from the SB as well, and will likely be the first thing I cut if I need to. I also like a single copy of Anguished Unmaking in the main as a catch-all answer. As far as board-wipes go, I will run 3 copies of Fumigate, really going to miss Languish.

What is Esper without counter magic? Well, still Esper, and not a single good counter-spell worth running in the mainboard.

The next point to touch is card draw, and honestly, I feel like card draw in the current format is pretty bad. Maybe I am missing something, but I just feel like the color pies are getting tilted and green has better card advantage than black and blue. I think adding in 3 copies of Anticipate, and 3 copies of Glimmer of Genius might do the trick.

By this point I have 5 slots left in the main, and really not sure what to fill them with. I think for now I will actually move Ob Nix to the main, and the remaining 4 slots will be a copy of Cataclysmic Gearhulk. a copy of Torrential Gearhulk, and 2 copies of Noxious Gearhulk.

Last but not least, the land-base. I really want to make room for Concealed Courtyard now that deck has a heavier emphasis on white. I am thinking of removing Choked Estuary to make room. I only really needed that much blue mana producing lands to be able to consistently play Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip in the early game, but now that he is gone I don't need as much blue mana. That said I will be taking out 2 copies of Choked Estuary, 1 copy of Sunken Hollow, and 1 copy of Prairie Stream, to make room for 4 Concealed Courtyard.

This comment is going to be very long as is, not going to go into details about the maybe board or side board since the main board is really what matters the most right now.

As always, any suggestions are welcome!

TL:DRI made some changes, enjoy.

Personally, I feel like Glimmer of Genius is somewhat underwhelming if you're not actively using the energy it provides. I'd say that the slots you're using for it may be better served with Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, as you said you were considering whether to include him. He's one more mana, but the versatility between either bouncing a creature scrying and drawing every turn, imo, is more valuable than a one time scry2-draw2.

Umbreomancer

Yeah, fair enough. Honestly all the draw spells in Esper colors are pretty bad, so I can see how Glimmer of Genius seems underwhelming, but it's just 1 more mana for an instant speed Read the Bones, which is what I liked about it. Also, for some odd reason I thought Jace was 6 mana. What I am likely to do, is probably take out the 3 Glimmer of Genius and add a fourth Anticipate, and two Jace, Unraveler of Secrets. I really didn't want to run an excessive amount of walkers again but I guess I can't get away from it :)

I know that feel. Planeswalkers are my favorite card type and I always want to play superfriends or such.

Hey, great to see another Esper player! I too loved Shaheen Soorani's deck (and like you have only really gotten to play one FNM with it haha, went 3-0 but conceded to my round three opponent due to time constraints)

I've been trying to think of how this deck will adapt to the new standard as well, so I might have some thoughts to share.

First off, I'm not sure if Torrential Gearhulk is worth a slot at the moment. If this were a standard format with something as powerful as Dig Through Time, it would probably be overpowered, but as is, instants are pretty weak right now.

Secondly, I'm personally a pretty big fan of Glimmer of Genius, it seems like the best card draw currently available. If you're concerned about not being able to utilize the energy portion of it, there are a few solid cards to try out: Live Fast, Die Young, and Aether Hub

I'm not 100% certain that Dovin Baan is a good card yet, though he does seem better than Narset Transcendent, at least in regards to what he can do on the turn he's played. His plus could wind up being really powerful, depending on what creatures are heavily used (hello Eldrazi Displacer, be a shame if you were useless wha ha ha) and it may even be effective at preventing creatures from crewing vehicles. Testing is required.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets could wind up being great now that Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip is gone. His plus generates card advantage and his minus can bounce a troublesome creature on the other side or allow you to get more value out of your Gearhulks. His ultimate, obviously, just wins the game, so he has that going for him.

Cloudblazer is a pretty sweet card if you want some kind of Mulldrifter-esque effect.

Your sideboard looks pretty solid, though obviously that's the biggest thing that will change depending on LGS meta and overall trends in standard. It'll take a couple weeks to really get something pinned down.

I'm gonna go ahead and upvote your deck, because it looks pretty solid, and if you have a chance, I'd appreciate it if you could come check out my list as well. Thank you!

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/19-09-16-displacer-control/

Ar3n0S

Esper is pretty great :) Thanks a lot for your thoughts, really appreciate when people take time to comment on my decks, even more so if they explain their suggestions.

You are right about Torrential Gearhulk. In this deck in particular, it's not that great since I don't exactly have huge bombs between my instants; which on a side note, I think the fact that most removal and draw is at sorcery speed completely nerfs control decks in the current standard. I only had one copy of the gearhulk for 2 reasons: 1) to hit a Glimmer of Genius when I Flash him in, and 2) just to have all 3 Gearhulks. He will likely be one of the first things to get cut though if I need to open up a slot for something.

Speaking of which, I also really like Glimmer of Genius. Which is why even though Umbreomancer made a solid point in his comment, I am hesitant in pulling it out of the deck. Instant speed Read the Bones for just an additional mana is pretty good.

I think Dovin Baan is being completely under-rated by a lot, which is fine by me, that just means he will be cheaper to get. Jokes aside, he is great. The fact that his +1 stops activated abilities is just a bonus, I think being able to give -3/-0 to a creature is great for a control deck as it buys you time, which is what Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip was also good for. Then of course his -1 is the main reason to run him, repeatable card draw with 2 life tagged on helps a lot against aggro/burn decks. I don't think his +1 stops creatures from Crewing vehicles as the activated ability is on the vehicle, and the vehicle is not a creature until it has been Crewed. If it matters any, he does make mana-dorks completely useless.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is something I want to include in the deck, just need to find space for it and as mentioned earlier in the comment if I have to cut something then Torrential Gearhulk will likely get the axe.

Cloudblazer is something I cannot get behind, and will probably never include in this deck. Mulldrifter is decent because he offers versatility, and is slightly easier to abuse in bounce shenanigans, while Cloudblazer offers zero flexibility, and is just way too expensive for what he does. I would probably try to include Gonti, Lord of Luxury well before I would even consider the blazer.

I will definitely take a look at your deck, whether it's later today or tomorrow I will try to give some insight if I can.

Thanks again!

First of all, excellent deck my friend.

I've been thinking about an Esper control deck ever since KLD began to get spoiled. Your list is a great example of what can be done with the new cards (and lack of certain rotation ones). When I do decide to upload an Esper list, I expect that is will look quite alike to this one, as you got so many things right.I hate that black and white both lack a sweeper before turn five, so I've been considering either Mardu or Jeskai to play Radiant Flames. I'm curious how this deck would match up to a super-aggro deck like mono-white humans that wants to win by turn four-six.

There are a few cards that I'm not entirely sold on though, and I'm curious to hear your reasoning.

Emrakul, the Promised End is a great finisher, but if you drawn this in your opening hand you're more or less playing on 6 cards. Sure, you can cast it later for 8 mana, but why would you run this over a more consistent win condition like Sorin, Grim Nemesis? While less powerful, he's certainly more likely to help win any given game as he will come down at least three turns earlier.

While Declaration in Stone is a very strong card, I think it's pretty awful in a control shell. The last things you want to do is hand your opponent card advantage. Since you're not looking to win the first dozen turns, they'll have more than enough time to crack the clue, thus resulting in you 2-for-1ing yourself.

I was kind of considering Torrential Gearhulk for a sideboard card against control and the like due to him having flash. Flashing in a 5/6 and drawing more cards or killing an activated manland or something seems pretty solid. I'm also mildly intrigued by the idea of a U/B Panharmonicon deck and using the abilities of both gearhulks twice when they come into play.

If you can protect Dovin Baan, he's great, but I'm pretty okay with him being underrated right now as well, so I can pick up a few during prerelease on the cheap.

I'm using Cloudblazer as a two of, but admittedly, I'm greedy and running 3.5 colors to make use of Eldrazi Displacer shenanigans with the Gearhulks and 'Blazer.

Daalot

I am glad you really like my deck :)

Emrakul, the Promised End is an extreme powerhouse, making it one of those cards that if your deck can run it then it should have it. I agree that drawing him in your opening had sucks hardcore, but then again with a 11.7% chance of having him in the opening hand I don't think that's too big of a worry for me. The only thing that makes me iffy about running Emrakul is that the deck no longer runs any discard outlets, which helped a lot in getting Emrakul out early.

You are correct about Sorin, Grim Nemesis, but I already have 2 copies and feel that running a third would be a little excessive.

You are also correct about Declaration in Stone. Not a very optimal card in a control shell, unfortunately removal is pretty damn aweful right now and as far as cheap removal goes there isn't much of an option. You have any suggestions? If I can find a replacement for it then I would be more than happy to get rid of it. At the same time I don't think allowing them to draw a card in the later portion of the game, after having removed an immediate threat, is that big of a deal and highly unlikely if that it will turn into a problem if late game they are grasping at straws against control. None, the less, it's still a sub optimal card in control.

As far as the match up against aggressive decks go, before rotation aggro gave me 0 issues, but post rotation with the loss of Languish I am not sure how it will fare.

Ar3n0S

I am sure someone will make a Panharmonicon deck, but I think it's way too cheeky of a card at the moment. I feel like all the Gearhulks need to be good in the main, as in the side they don't seem that great. Only exception imo is Cataclysmic Gearhulk where I can see him sitting in the SB of a midrange deck that wants a "boardwipe" that won't completely ruin their field.

Yeah I took a quick scan of your deck before going to work and notice the Displacer+Blazer combo :)

I'll try to look at it more and offer some feedback when I get hom from work.

Ceremonious Rejection seems like it'd be a really good sideboard card for you, as does the psuedo-Mana Leak that isn't really mana leak (Sorry I forget its name). I agree that there isn't a powerful enough Instant for Torrential Gearhulk to be worth it and would probably cut it. Demon of Dark Schemes would be a really good energy outlet for you and Confiscation Coup is also extremely powerful and annoying. I know it'll probably be one of my least favorite cards so Esper should definitely love it.

Anyways I built a Walker control build too, but ended up going with Mardu. It'll be interesting to see how they play out in the upcoming standard.

Zaueski

Thanks for the comment.

Ceremonious Rejection is indeed good, and probably will make its way into my sideboard. Just need to figure out what to take out for it.

Revolutionary Rebuff is probably what you are talking about, but it's nowhere close to being as good as Mana Leak and I am honestly not sold on any counterspells in this standard rotation, with the exception of those in the sideboard used to counter specific threats.

I am really not caring too much about generating and using energy. The only reason I have Demon of Dark Schemes in the maybe-board is because I might consider playing him if giving all creatures -2/-2 is actually going to act as a boardwipe, but it looks like it would be a sideboard card at best. The same goes with Confiscation Coup. It all heavily depends on what is going to be played in standard, but this one too looks like sideboard tech at best.

Seems really good I wannna play something like this +1 I really wanna play a sphinx if final world how would you put at least one in?

Vampire_Lord

Thanks for the upvote!

If you really want to include Sphinx of the Final Word in this deck, in my opinion it would have to be in the sideboard. It's a good tool to ring in against control, in which case you can probably get rid of the random Murder. The thing about the SB is that it's heavily dependent on your meta. Try to predict what are the decks that will be played in your meta and plan accordingly; although, as I mentioned in the update, it is very likely that the meta will be aggro heavy. That said, you could probably get rid of Kambal since he would be sided in against control decks.

Now if you want the sphinx in the main, you could probably take out a 2nd copy of Sorin, or if you are on a budget you could easily cut out one or both copies of Liliana. You could also take out one of the two Gearhulks as well. Control decks tend to be very flexible in what can be swapped out, the deciding factor is what you are going up against. As a control deck you need a clear win condition, once that is established you just need to figure out what exactly you are trying to control: tempo, other control decks, aggro, burn, etc etc. Once you have that down you can make a more educated decision on what to remove and what to replace it with.

Hope that helps!

The_Riddlebox,thank you very much and yes it did help I will be playing this at game day I'll keep you updated with fnms and game day

I wouldn't recommend cutting down on your Glimmer of Genius's as that is the best target in your deck for a Torrential Gearhulk. The blue bot is getting less and less useful as you take out high cost instants. As is, it almost isn't worth running him and you may be better suited by something like Terrarion or Prophetic Prism for color fixing. Gonti, Lord of Luxury or Demon of Dark Schemes feel like they would fit better as your creatures if you wanted to keep that number the same.

The lone Murder in the SB doesn't really feel necessary either. Diabolic Tutor in the SB would help you a lot more because it'll help you find the one-of cards that your sideboard seems to want to bring in. I completely agree that it is way less useful than Dark Petition, but I think you have enough removal in the main that it won't really be necessary. Another option to consider would be Paradoxical Outcome, it is pretty situational, but could be rather useful in those rare cases, moreso than the Murder at least I believe.

Zaueski

Appreciate the insight :D

The reason I cut down on Glimmer of Genius is that while it is a great draw spell, probably the best in standard, it isn't something I want to see often in the early-to-mid game. Anticipate works better in those cases, and normally I still have a healthy hand with answers. Having 3 copies makes it very likely that I would see it in the first 3 turns, something that does nothing for me, but by cutting down to 2 I will see it more frequently when I need it. You are correct that it is the best target for the "blue bot", but Anguished Unmaking is a pretty great target as well. Overall I am not worried about it, I have only 1 copy of Torrential Gearhulk, by the time I see him I will probably have at least 1 copy of Glimmer in the grave to get back. I just don't want to go overboard with draw spells since this deck can already get me a good chunk of cards, and it feels bad when you are drawing into card draw when you need answers. Then again I am not the best at MTG so the likely hood of you being 100% correct is high.

I would rather run anything over Terrarion or Prophetic Prism, in my eyes those are garbage cards that are only fit in those Foundry Inspector/Herald of Kozilek combo decks. Demon of Dark Schemes is only good if -2/-2 across the board actually acts as a sweeper, something I had in the maybe board and not sure why it isn't there anymore. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is great, and I am considering him. The issue I have with him right now is that until mid-range decks and control decks become more established in the format, after rotation of course, I feel like I won't get much value out of both his ability and the fact that he has Deathtouch.

The lone Murder is a remnant from the current "pre-rotation" version I am running at the moment, and will probably disappear over time since I don't think it's a good card to have in the side. Dark Petition is something I was considering, but I ended up completely disregarding, spending one turn grabbing an answer to a threat that's on the board AND not be able to cast it on the same turn I grab it make this a bad tutor for standard at 4 cmc. Again, I could be wrong, but that's the only thing that made Dark Petition playable: you grab an answer, and you can cast it too.

Paradoxical Outcome is interesting, and I might just put it in the side as a tool against other control decks, or decks that are capable of easily removing my walkers. Something to consider.