Trade a Thoughtseize for a 4th Detention Sphere

Thank you for the advice. I find that a Thoughtseize is far more efficient in getting rid of things than a Detention Sphere doing it after the fact, and it's great to see their game plan early game and rip into one or two of those cards and mess it up.

I have a fourth Detention Sphere in my sideboard for the times when I need that fourth one. I might try playtesting with them swapped the other way around though.

Thanks for the suggestion!

It looks like you don't have enough land. Maybe lose 1 or 2 far/away?

Thanks, Jrjersey01, I'll give it a shot. I have been low on lands for one or two games this FNM. I'll try it out with one more land in place of a Far / Away .

Take out 1 Hero's Downfall for the 4th Detention Sphere . D-Sphere is easier on he mana base since it doesn't have double of any 1 color in it's mana cost and it's better at removing things.

I wouldn't cut a Hero's Downfall for another Detention Sphere I've been running 3 downfall's for quite a while now and it really seems like a good number, on the reverse side though I really do think you could benefit from a 4th sphere. I honestly havent been to terribly impressed with Azorius Charm in the current format, Ive actually cut them completely in favor of Devour Flesh For Sideboard Id cut the Ratchet Bomb 's and probably at least a Doom Blade or 2. Putting in some Sin Collector 's and/or Duress , and if you can find room for it anywhere in the 75 which I highly reccomend Blood Baron of Vizkopa All in all I think its a pretty solid looking deck

I would leave at least one Ratchet Bomb sideboard, wipe the whit wee it token gen decks.

I think Devour Flesh sounds like an excellent idea instead of Azorius Charm . I still love the card, but often it's just a tempo play for something I may have to kill sooner or later anyway, and giving an easy to cast same mana-cost spell is perfect, especially since it's another edict effect (which you can never have enough of given the format). It may be a best move for an Azorius deck, but Esper has kill spells. Although, the main reason I really like Azorius Charm is that it's never a completely dead draw, at worst a cycle, and there is no deck where it becomes useless in my deck. That's a solid quality for a maindeck card.

What I'll probably do is go down to three Azorius Charm and up to four Detention Sphere . Then I'll probably move Azorius Charm to my sideboard (or out entirely) in favor of Cyclonic Rift which will be able to hit more things (especially if I overload) and get around pro-white.

I really would love to use Blood Baron of Vizkopa as one of my bombs, probably in place of AEtherling given that I'll be plenty able to protect it and having two life-gain bombs would be much better than just the one I use. I might even just try to get two and use two of them as my bombs along with my Elspeth. Unfortunately, I do not have one at the moment.

Thanks for all of your comments and advice, everyone.

Updated the deck. I chose to add more reliability elsewhere in place of Azorius Charm. Made Detention Sphere x4 maindeck and Far / Away x4 maindeck, and then added Cyclonic Rift x2 maindeck to fill the void. I also changed up my sideboard to compensate.

So I'm considering taking out my AEtherling bomb and putting in a Pack Rat bomb instead. I'll need less mana to bring it out initially than with AEtherling , mainly because you need more mana than his cast cost to exile him to keep it alive, or even extra mana for you to counter their counterspell if the deck you're playing has those. So Pack Rat may require some card tossing and mana investment to grow, but he'll be able to stem the tide gradually until I can push for a win and also give defense against aggro. Also, he can turn terrible splits with Jace, Architect of Thought into two rats, instead of flooding my hand with useless things.

The more I think about this, I like it. I'll test it out for a few games and see how it does. Unless someone can really convince me to not do it. I think it's awesome, however.

-1 Cyclonic Rift +1 Divination or Azorius Charm

-1 Far / Away +1 Divination or Azorius Charm

-1 jace & +1 Elspeth or another draw card make your deck come faster to you ;)

I was thinking of running a card just to draw cards, but then I decided to run 4x Jace, Architect of Thought . He is my card draw card. For four mana, I almost always get to do the three-card split at least twice, and often more than that per Jace. By the time I've gone through two or three splits, I already have his replacement in hand. He keeps things going just fine on his own, and he has the added benefit of being a pain for aggro.

I would maybe add a blood baron or two in the sideboard against mono black

Updated deck. Moved 2x Cyclonic Rift and 1x Detention Sphere to sideboard, and now put 3x Dimir Charm in the main deck. In most cases where I would use Azorius Charm or Cyclonic Rift early on for a tempo play, it's almost always a creature with power 2 or less, and Dimir Charm just kills them, ultimately a better move. Additionally, it's a counter for those few sorceries I would dislike, such as a Thoughtseize , but ultimately its ability to look at the top three and ditch two of those cards is a great way to soft counter most cards before they even get to the opponent's hand, and a great way to mess up someone's plan when they keep something off of a scry.

I'll be trying it out for a while at least until this FNM coming up, and I won't try out Pack Rat just yet.

As for Blood Baron of Vizkopa , he is a good card, but I'm not sure if he's really what I want for this deck. All of my current bombs are just fine, and he dies to Mizzium Mortars too easily, which would be my biggest concern with running him. All of my other bombs are great in the first game, and all of the answers people can bring in like Pithing Needle and such are already answered by my deck.

In short, I'm not scared enough of mono black to use him, and I don't think he's as useful as my other bombs. This is what I've decided.

I would definitely try and find a way to fit Blood Baron of Vizkopa in there. He's an amazing stabilizer and finisher, especially with so much black running around. Other than that, I like it. +1

Well for the decks name sake, I would get ready for cards like Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow

Oh, I'm ready for them. The only question is what to replace with them. I have some ideas, though, but I'll want to see the whole set when it comes out.

Love it!...Could never afford all of the cards but this was beautifully constructed. Congrats

no Gainsay in side for mono blue and mirror why? I like you explaination for dimir over Azorius Charm, so why?

check out my twist on esper.> It won a few fnm's.> everything but red...... Scary.

I don't put Gainsay in the side for mono blue because I'm not scared of mono blue, because it usually loses to me as easily as mono black. They depend on their field being populated, and I do a good job of interrupting that plan. Mono blue's worst threat dies easily enough to well over eight cards in this deck.

Glad to hear that you like my explanation for Dimir Charm over Azorius Charm . I found that these reasons are what got me to play 4-0 with it.

Also, I used to run Gainsay , but only really found it useful in a mirror control matchup, and sometimes helpful against mono blue. For that reason, I decided to put Negate in the deck to fill the sideboard spot better. It has helped a LOT, and I haven't regretted it yet.

This deck seems to be great! However I believe you should definitely add two Blood Baron of Vizkopa to the sideboard for the right match ups. I'd suggest removing the spare Far / Away and Dimir Charm . +1 !

And don't forget Temple of Enlightenment once it comes out! And Drown in Sorrow will also have a place here.

While I still really like Blood Baron of Vizkopa , I'm not sure that I really want to use him in here.

Of course I will use Temple of Enlightenment , and I look forward to using Drown in Sorrow when it comes out.

Don't like aetherling maindeck.