Isn't 27 lands too many? How about cutting it to 24? I suggest to put in some one drops like Soldier of the Pantheon here.

27 lands is what the original deck by BBD called for. I was thinking 27 was to much as well. I just sleeved up some proxies (Brimaz, King of Oreskos Ephara, God of the Polis in order to play test. I thought about soldier but I am not sure how well it will do in this build. Soldier of the Pantheon is more of an aggro card and this deck is more tempo

I posted a variation on this deck almost 2 weeks ago after Brimaz, King of Oreskos was first previewed. (Before BBD's video) I went a little more agro with it using Soldier of the Pantheon and Brave the Elements . I did remove the Angel of Serenity main board and add an additional Archangel after watching his deck teck though. I like your brew here and we are definitely on the same page with a lot of these numbers especially how good Banisher Priest is. I'm interested to see if the argo take on it works better or if your tempo take gains a lot of steam. I think this style of deck has a shot at being T1. Here's my list if you want to check it out, Azorius Mid-Range. You get a +1 from me sir.

Thank you for the +1. After play testing a few times i feel like i should bring either the Archangel of Thune count back up to 4 or Elspeth, Sun's Champion up to 3.

His deck indeed is great, but I actually found that it is better to only run 1 spear and add 1 far//away so you have 1 total spear and 3 far//away. 2 spear in hand is always a bitch.

I have been playing this for a while now and have never had 2 Spear of Heliod s in hand. Does that situation happen often for you?

Also I'm considering dropping 1 Supreme Verdict for a 3rd Brave the Elements . How do you feel about this? I know brave wasn't in the originally list but the card just fits perfectly with all the creatures in the deck being white.

You need to ask what the top decks in standard currently are. Mono blk and gr monsters are super popluar atm. Blk has hate and gr has huge creatures. Verdict is your "oh shit" button. It is always nice to have it when you need it. With one in the deck u draw it alot. But two allows for u to have a higher chance. I would keep the verdicts. I do like the braves tho and think maybe u can take away 1 spear for a brave. Try play testing that and see. Id like to know the results

If you want to play esper I highly encourage upping the count of Supreme Verdict to 4. Get rid of some of your cheaper creatures (like Precinct Captain , Imposing Sovereign and Lyev Skyknight ) and bring in the beasts - Desecration Demon , Elspeth, Sun's Champion or even Heliod, God of the Sun . (I also think 4 Obzedats are way too much - I'd stick with 2 only). This way you can let your opponent consume their fire in the first turns before wiping their board and bringing in your creatures.
Other recommendations would be to replace Ultimate Price with something more versatile early-game - my biggest recommendation would be Hero's Downfall due to its versatility, but if you run into a lot of aggressive decks make sure you sideboard some Doom Blade s and Devour Flesh .
Up the count of all shocklands to 4 as they are faster and will really help when you need tempo (even though scrylands are important as well, especially lategame).
And even though you might see him more in the control version, what about AEtherling ? He can be a great finisher if everything else fails.
I am curious to see how this deck turns out. I love midrange, even though I prefer it in the RWB combination (take a look at my Afterlife Glory deck if you want :) )
+1

Everytime I tried to fit Verdict into my UWx Ephara deck, someone would come along and say "looks like you're curving into verdict the wrong way". I still consider it, but I also consider fog. When it's good, it is good. When it's bad, I forget that I lost a draw step because I put an edge case answer in my deck.

What did I do to cure myself of wanting to put in a miser Verdict? I put in more creatures. This is an Ephara deck. She wants to play creatures. More creatures means more draws off Ephara. More creatures means you're less likely to fall behind on the board. Not falling behind on board means you don't need the verdict.

GR Monsters has 8 creatures you care about. 4 Stormbreath Dragon and 4 Polukranos, World Eater . (I'm trying to avoid saying "Dies to Doom Blade "). Lyev Skyknight kills their planeswalkers. Precinct Captain can attack through their Sylvan Caryatid with a spear. What GR Monsters really hates is Blind Obedience . You have the tempo advantage. Use it.

Ratseize (mbd) is an attrition strategy. You need a way to profitably survive their 1 for 1's. I like Xathrid Necromancer for that. Once Ephara is online and you are top decking in a creature dense deck, they can't keep up. Pack Rat vs. Detention Sphere ? I know where my money is. Desecration Demon ?!?!!!? Precinct Captain says hello. You have the tempo advantage. use it.

Or you can throw away your tempo advantage by playing fewer creatures and adding a bunch of edge case misers

The problem with any early double black costed spells (Desecration Demon and Hero's Downfall ) is that its really hard to hit those turn 3 and 4 when we are trying for double white on turn 2 and 3 for Precinct Captain and Brimaz, King of Oreskos . Also you have to remember that in a build like this Supreme Verdict can hurt us just as much as it can them.

Doom Blade is already in the SB. Plus i don't need Devour Flesh since i play Far / Away

I've tried playing Elspeth, Sun's Champion here but she doesn't work out well at all.

Considering AEtherling is a turn 7 play at best its not really where i want to be. Plus the small margin of matches that its actually useful I am already ahead in with Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Obzedat, Ghost Council so its not worth any spots in the deck. Also i only play 3 copies of Obzedat, Ghost Council total not sure where you saw 4 at. Did you mean Blood Baron of Vizkopa ?

You mentioned that Elspeth, Sun's Champion didn't work well for you. Do you mind me asking why? It just seems to me like she would fit perfectly in this deck.

Have you looked at Soldier of the Pantheon ? You don't have any 1 drop creatures, so he might help to speed you up a little.

Finally, I personally tend to prefer Ascended Lawmage to Lyev Skyknight . Have you thought about him at all?

@kmcree

Lyev Skyknight is more useful than Ascended Lawmage because its abillities are more relevant in a game full of planeswalkers. The detain nonland permanent is the main reason for playing it over any other current UW creature. Also the detain ability is relevant in other situations where you might have lethal on the board and you need to get past a blocker to win or if they have lethal creature on board and you need to avoid taking damage from it to survive.

Soldier of the Pantheon is a great card but not for this deck. Its extremely difficult to go untapped plains turn 1 for soldier untapped plains for captain and then untapped land for my 3 drops. This is so difficult because of the amount of shock/ scry lands in the deck that i need to be there to support the 3 different colors. If the buddy lands were still in standard it would probably be a different story but there are a lot of times that i'll have 4 spells and 3 land with 1 or 2 of them being scry lands. So if i play the shock 1st i screw myself out of being able to turn 2 captain which is important for setting up with Ephara, God of the Polis .

Elspeth, Sun's Champion doesn't work well because this deck is already top heavy and to add a 6 drop won;t help. The only way I would play elspeth is either 2 in the board to board in against UWx or if i were to cut either Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Obzedat, Ghost Council and unless something changes with the metagame cutting either one would be a bad decision.

Since you're running Brimaz, King of Oreskos , you should consider Cartel Aristocrat , you'll have enough tokens to sac!

To what end game would i run Cartel Aristocrat out of curiosity. A lot of the decks that run her need a sack outlet but i have no use for one. I should probably update my description but the whole idea is that each creature in here left unchecked can take down a match individually. Cartel Aristocrat doesn't allow that because it needs other creatures to make it good. If i was running more of a Esper Humans list or had Elspeth, Sun's Champion in here she would definitely be present but at the moment i don't see the need for her. Could you explain your thoughts on why her.

@neutral: I usually run her Against mono-colored decks. Also, she's a solid 2/2 for 2 mana. She does wonder against white-weenies, since she can only have protection from white and attack freely.

I often times leave her on the battlefield, attacking with my other creatures and once my opponent has around 4-6 life and with 2 or 3 creatures that can chump block, I just start sacking my other creatures and attacking with no problems at all...

In my opinion, she's strong enough on her own, not just being another combo card in a deck. But I can see how situational she can be. I have a friend that runs a deck very similar to yours, but he runs a single Cartel Aristocrat . It really comes in handy, to a point where he'd sac a token, and attack with her and Brimaz, King of Oreskos , so he wasn't really losing creatures, just having a free protection from chosen color every turn.

Brave the Elements does the same thing but i do see your point. I will try playtesting with her to see how well she pans out. Thanks for the suggestion