I love it - really solid. I hate to play control because I get extremely bored, but this deck is solid. Good work. +1

I've play tested this a bunch, and I've decided to invest in building it. and lord knows that's saying a lot seeing how there is some serious money required. That said, i'm new to esper control. any chance you could give me a bit of advice on playing it? like, what gets sideboarded based on what your playing? black/devotion, red/devotion, burn, etc,? any advice would be swell

and say get a win con in your hand early on, do you want to work on just stopping the opponent's actions till your fairly certain they're out of steam? then lay your win con?

Sure. So, sideboard depends a lot on what I see them running and what I'm scared of them sideboarding in.

This means that R/G needs to have ways to take down planeswalkers and creatures both just as importantly, and plenty of creature hate and less counters and more life gain and less life loss, and anything with red needs something non-white that can kill Stormbreath Dragon .

Anything R/B needs more ways to pre-empt a Slaughter Games since they're probably doing control, and a few more counters.

Mono Green means plenty of creature control, probably no counters at all, and Revoke Existence will be a must.

Mono Black is a very favorable matchup for me typically, but requires about two of my extra Dimir Charm , Far / Away , Sphinx's Revelation , or Detention Sphere , often as the case determines. Swap out Dissolve for Syncopate . If they do Mono Black with land splashing, you'll have to predict what they're splashing and why. Splashing white, either they sideboard some mild white investment like Blood Baron of Vizkopa , or some other threats like Sin Collector . Splashing Blue, may be going for Nightveil Specter control tech or some other hijinks. Be wary, think ahead.

Mono Blue is also a very favorable matchup for me. You'll probably want to take out all of your counterspells for creature kill or other utility. They WILL be boarding in Gainsay . Plan on it. They'll also have Judge's Familiar . Just something to consider.

If I get a win con early, the main goal is to see if I can stop them or drain their resources to the point where it's safe to cast the win con as early as possible. This also depends on how the game plays out. Sometimes I start out the game with a win con and cannot cast it safely until as late in the game as when I'd usually draw one.

Lastly, you need to playtest playtest playtest. Not just on this website either, but against a real opponent with a real hand that you don't know about and with a plan that you do not know. You're probably not going to go 4-0 your first FNM with this deck, but maybe you will. A control build like this requires some experience. I even built this thing and didn't do well with it right away, but I knew it was solid and with getting a little experience and doing a few minor tweaks, I got it to where it is now, and I feel it is solid both on paper and in my hands. Remember that with a control deck, half of the deck's efficacy lies in your ability to pilot it properly.

And some parting advice, always mulligan when you think you should. Don't take any risky hands unless you absolutely need to. You should see at least three lands, with one of them hopefully a scryland. Play the scryland first and ditch the card if it's not a land or unless it's something... really good for that early on, like a Dimir Charm . I've gotten a scry into a Sphinx's Revelation before and ditched it to the bottom of the deck without a hesitation. So just don't get greedy, and play it safe. You should be fine.

wow... that was SO helpful. It's gonna take me a fair amount of time to gather these cards, but i have most of the painful ones to get (thoughtseizes). It will also be good time to learn more of the popular decks running. I think i'm gonna love it, but I see that there's gonna be a scary learning curve. Thanks again for the help!

so, thanks to a buddy loaning me 80% of the required cards I pieced together this deck for FNM and decided to play it. I had no idea what I was doing for the most part, but I had a total blast with it. Such a different style of playing than I'm used to.

things I learned.

-lord do you need to plan in advance... you surely need to plan to bring out the win cons and to try to get through the first 8 turns. There were moments in late game where it was impossible for the opponent to win, even if they got me down to 1. It's counter-intuitive for me to not do as much as I can with my hand as fast as I can, seems like this deck rewards you for being patient

-I need to learn more about the all the standard deck strats. I've been back into the game for about a month and half now, so i'm clued into most strats but not all. this would help greatly for knowing what 4/5 drops to look out for etc. and having the available mana.

-[Aetherling] is complicated. meaning, i'd never really played with, or against that card. I lost a match (although I was pretty sure I was going down regardless) due to me not thinking long term with the [Aetherling]. didn't even occur to me about flicker blocking etc. Luckily, my opponent was kind enough to explain the nuances after the match.

-Sideboarding seems SO important with this deck, alas I didn't have the cards for a sideboard so that'll have to come later. This deck is also very vulnerable to being sideboarded against.

-[Dimir Charm] really shined. Only way I could get rid of [Slaughter Games], and it was downright evil after a 2 scry

-one of my biggest problems so far, as dumb as this sounds, is speeding up my turns. my first match up of using this deck ended in a draw due to a time out. I TOTALLY had him too, which totally sucks. It just takes me forever managing multiple mana sources, crazy huge draws, and long term planning. I guess thats something that'll come later as I learn the deck.

-what is the ideal percentage of duel lands? It was extremely appealing to [Thoughtseize] on first turn, but if I was using a shock land to do that, i lost 4 life off that bat. That got a little risky. The scry lands were very useful, but I was effectively one turn behind concerning mana for most of the match. Is there an ideal ratio of land? basic and duel?

I very much enjoyed playing this deck, but i'm faced with a dilemma. It's gonna cost me SO much to build it. I still have several spells to acquire, some very expensive, and I only have 2 of the required duel lands! (ugh) also, i'll only be able to play this deck till October right? sadness... That said, i've already committed to trying to build it

The mana base I have is basically the most effective, possibly could be improved with some more Temple of Enlightenment . You want to throw down your scry lands first, never go for a first turn Thoughtseize . Ever.

Also, you can get rid of Slaughter Games with a Thoughtseize . If you're playing against a B/R deck that might use it, try to Thoughtseize them just before they get four lands out so that you have as much chance as possible to hit their Slaughter Games just before they can play it.

The deck is only vulnerable to being sideboarded against if you don't sideboard properly yourself. Also, some sideboard moves opponents do are going to be unusual, so be prepared to expect some tricky things. Yes, the sideboard is important with this deck.

You'll get faster with playing the deck as you get used to playing it. Especially with learning how to plan ahead and set up situations for your advantage. After a while I was so familiar with this deck that my opponent had to take as long as I would, especially later in the game, because I put so much pressure on them. Sometimes they would be taking longer than I did to play.

on the situations where you are siding out counters for more creature kills, would Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver x2 be a good choice?

Probably. That's the situation where I would be glad to try him out. Unfortunately, I don't have two of him, but I'd be interested in using him. He's also more proactive and able to push for an easier kill given how he works. A solid choice.